PROVO — Coming off a loss at then-No. 25 Pepperdine that precluded the absence of leading scorer Ashley Hatch to the U.S. women’s national team, a few questions about BYU’s offense could have been expected.

More than 20 shots later, there were a lot more answers.

Michele Murphy Vasconcelos had a goal and an assist, and Nadia Gomes and Bizzy Phillips Bowen each scored a goal as the No. 8 BYU women’s soccer team picked up its sixth-straight win over Portland 3-0 Saturday night at South Field.

“We haven’t been shooting lately,” Vasconcelos said. “I think it definitely helped getting shots in practice, and everyone was shooting today. It was what we worked on in practice.”

The Cougars (12-2-1, 3-1-1 West Coast Conference) outshot the Pilots 21-8 with an efficient six shots on goal. Vasconcelos, Bowen and Elena Medeiros each had three shots.

“It was a good focus we had every day this week,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “We are dangerous in getting in behind defense. I loved the way we came back, and we talked about playing with more emotion. Not just energy, but emotion.

“We were really dominant; I’m really pleased with the way we played.”

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BYU senior Ashley Hatch was one of 24 players called into training camp by U.S. women’s national team coach Jill Ellis before a pair of international friendlies against Switzerland.

Hannah Clark made three saves, including stopping a penalty kick midway through the second half, to split the shutout with Rachel Boaz.

Clark made one save in the first half to earn the shutout for the Cougars, who held the Pilots to just two shots in the first 45 minutes. Center back Danika Bowman, who smashed a long ball to Vasconcelos’ feet for the opening goal, held the Pilots’ best chance of the half at bay with a physical steal after a cheap giveaway.

“Taylor (Isom) and Danika have been phenomenal for us,” Rockwood said. “They are so key into all of our shutouts that we’ve earned.”

Vasconcelos gave the Cougars the early advantage, slotting home a right-footed shot inside the far post just six minutes into the match. The senior scored her ninth goal of the season and 26th goal of her career in the absence of leading scorer Hatch, who was called into training camp by U.S. coach Jill Ellis ahead of Wednesday’s international friendly against Switzerland at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.

“I’ve actually been working on that this week, with my husband,” said Vasconcelos, who is married to BYU men’s soccer player Pedro Vasconcelos. “I was just slashing a cross, and then a perfect ball by Danika right to my feet. I just had to take a touch in and shoot it.

“I feel like I had the momentum going forward. As a forward, when you are running like that, the defender had to turn and run. We had some momentum.”

Gomes doubled the advantage in the 58th minute, ripping a high-velocity shot from the top of the penalty box that scorched the back of the net. Bowen finished off the scoring with a goal from more than 20 yards in the 77th minute.

“We’ve been trying to get Bizzy to shoot more, so every day after practice we took outside reps with her,” Vasconcelos said. “Nadia served a great ball across, I touched it, then looked up and Bizzy was wide open.

“She had a killer warmup and needs to get the ball at her feet. It was awesome.”

Portland (7-4-3) nearly pulled one back on a penalty kick in the 70th minute, but Clark dived to her right to punch out Allison Wetherington’s well-struck attempt from the spot. The save was her final touch of the night, as Boaz replaced Clark for the final 20 minutes as she continued her recovery from a broken hand.

“Hannah had a huge PK save,” Rockwood said. “Coach (Chris) Watkins did his research, we guessed where she was going, and Hannah came up with a big save on a nice shot.

“Our team defense is what we take a lot of pride in, and to get another shutout means a lot to us.”

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