Oct. 1, 2015 Box Score | Photo Gallery 
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The No. 6 BYU women's soccer team held off a feisty effort by Gonzaga for a 1-0 road win Thursday. It was the West Coast Conference opening game for both teams.
The Cougars (9-1-1, 1-0-0 West Coast Conference) are now unbeaten in their last six games. They have also now won all eight meetings in the all-time series against GU. But, BYU had to earn Thursday's result.
Gonzaga put together a solid effort against the Cougars, creating some opportunities on the offensive end and limiting chances on the defensive side of the ball. BYU entered the contest averaging 20 shots per game, which was ninth in the country. It took 18 Thursday. The Zags had 11. The Cougars only had a 6-5 edge in shots in the first half. BYU put nine shots on goal, while the Bulldogs had four.
Nadia Gomes' third goal of the season was the difference in the game. The sophomore played a ball to Michele Murphy Vasconcelos, who then returned the ball back to Gomes at the top of the box. Gomes took a dribble past the defense and struck the ball to the corner of the net. It was Vasconcelos third assist of the season.
BYU's Bizzy Phillips took a game-high six shots, placing four on goal. Vasconcelos had five shots. Karley Baggerly led Gonzaga with four opportunities. The junior moved into ninth all-time in program history with 107 shots in her career. Heather Johnson took three shots, and now has 154 in her career. She is one shot away from fourth all-time. Savannah Van Citters had GU's best chance with a volley in the second half that hit the right post and bounced back into play.
Six minutes into Thursday's match, Gonzaga's (1-6-4, 0-1-0 WCC) Christie Tombari crossed the 1,000-minute plateau this season. She saved eight shots against BYU, and now has 217 in her career. The redshirt junior is second in the WCC with 58 saves.
Rachel Boaz finished with four saves for the Cougars.
Gonzaga welcomes San Diego (2-7-2) Saturday. The Toreros opened conference play at Portland Thursday night. The Zags and USD are scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at Luger Field. Live coverage will be available on GoZags.com.