SPOKANE, Wash.—After its first 2-0-0 start to West Coast Conference play in school history, the Gonzaga University women's soccer team looks to continue its roll with matches at San Diego and No. 23 BYU this weekend.
"The team plans to build off a solid start to the always-tough WCC Schedule this weekend," said head coach Amy Edwards.
The Zags are coming off a pair of victories over Saint Mary's and Pacific last weekend. Tori Lee scored two goals, both of them game-winners, while Heather Johnson also found the net with a hard strike from distance against the Gaels. The midfield did a great job of winning possession and breaking up attacks in both matches, and the defense held Pacific to just one shot on goal, which keeper Christie Tombari smothered to preserve the clean sheet. The shutout was the Zags' fourth of 2014.
Going back to Sept. 12, the Zags are 4-1-0 in their last five games with two clean sheets. Their only loss in that stretch came in overtime at SMU on the back-end of a tough two-match road trip to the Dallas area. They've scored eight goals in those five games, with three of those from Lee, two from Johnson, and two more from Mikayla Anderson. The Zag defense has held opponents to just 0.80 goals a game in the last five, and Tombari has saved 85.2% of her shots faced during that stretch as well.
Gonzaga will begin the weekend in San Diego with a 7:00 p.m. match on Thursday, Oct. 9 against the University of San Diego. The Toreros are 4-5-2 on the year, most recently falling to BYU 3-2 in both team's WCC opener. Both Victoria Walker and Julia Sherwood have scored three goals apiece while seven other players have found the net at least once for USD. McKenna Tollack has spent the most time in goal, posting a 1.50 goals against average while making 36 saves.
Live stats for the match at San Diego will be available at this link, while theW.tv will carry a live web stream of the contest.
After the match against USD, the Zags will travel to Provo, Utah, for a game against 23rd-ranked BYU on Saturday, Oct. 11. That contest will kick off at 6:00 p.m. Pacific. The Cougars, ranked No. 23 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, are 7-3-2 on the year, beating San Diego 3-2 on Oct. 3. Ashley Hatch leads BYU with eight goals and four assists, while Kathrine Snyder has made 24 saves and maintained a 0.84 goals against average during 746 minutes in goal.
Saturday's match will be broadcast on BYUtvsports.com and live stats will be available here.
