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PALO ALTO, Calif. — In two games at Stanford, the BYU women's soccer team has held all but one player out of the net from one of the top teams in the country.
That one player has three goals over two games and 180 minutes, though.
Jordan DiBiasi scored two goals, her second and third of the year against the Cougars, to help the third-ranked Cardinal survive No. 13 BYU 2-1 in an NCAA Tournament second-round match Thursday night at Stanford's Cagan Stadium.
"I thought it was a great college soccer game tonight with two great opponents," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "Unfortunate that we had to meet in the second round. But I'm really proud of the way our girls played; I think it was one of the best games we played on the season, and that's all we can ask for.
"I think the girls gave it absolutely everything they had."
DiBiasi opened the scoring with a half-volley from the top of the 18 in the 28th minute that gave Stanford (18-2-1) a 1-0 halftime lead. The Cardinal held BYU (16-3-2) to one shot on goal in the first half hour of the match, a soft shot by Bizzy Phillips that bounced right to the feet of Stanford goalkeeper Jane Campbell for one of her two saves in the first half.
But the Cougars came out flying after the break, and Nadia Gomes earned a penalty kick in the opening minute of the second half. Phillips stepped up to the first penalty kick awarded to BYU in 2015, and calmly sent it past Campbell to tie the match at 1-1.
"We did well drawing it up," BYU associate head coach Chris Watkins told Greg Wrubell on the Cougar IMG Network. "Nadia's a special girl, nice and quick, and she was able to get fouled. Bizzy, to her credit, stepped up and finished a nice ball."
DiBiasi scored the game-winner in the 75th minute, notching her third goal against the Cougars dating back to the Cardinal's 1-0 win Sept. 7 at Cagan Stadium.
"I look at our seniors, and some girls who have worked so hard. It was rough, and it's a tough way to finish the season," Watkins said. "It's never easy. But I think we all feel like we are a great team and shouldn't be done on Nov. 19."
BYU finished with six shots on goal to five for Stanford, but the second goal never came. Ashley Hatch, who recently returned from a knee injury that kept the preseason Hermann Trophy candidate out for most of West Coast Conference play, had a team-high four shots — three of them on frame — in 64 minutes off the bench. The junior from Gilbert, Arizona, nearly equalized with eight minutes remaining, rising up to head down a free ball in the box that Campbell poked away to hold the lead.
Campbell, a junior from Kennesaw, Georgia, made five saves to earn the win for the Cardinal, who advanced to play Arizona on Saturday after the Wildcats' 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Santa Clara.
Stanford advanced to its sixth-straight round of 16 appearance just four years ago winning its last NCAA championship in 2011.
The matchup was heavily scrutinized since the NCAA selection show, when BYU was given an unseeded first-round game against Utah Valley in the same regional as top-seed Stanford. Santa Clara, which drew WCC champion BYU at home before finishing fourth in the league, was given a No. 4 seed, and Cal was awarded a No. 3 seed after losing 2-0 to BYU in Hawaii.
"I've been doing this for a while, and this team is better than a round of 32 loss," Watkins said. "Ten years from now, we'll look back, and it will be frustrating. It's frustrating right now. This game should've happened at least (Saturday) night, if not next week."
With the majority of the team's goal-scorers and defense returning for next year, Phillips expects even greater things to come from 2016.
"I think this season was incredible for us, from the very beginning," Phillips said. "I think this team had an incredible season. This game, I thought we battled as hard as we could, and we had better moments at certain points in the game. Unfortunately, it didn't go our way in the end. But this team has worked so hard, and the unity has been incredible."
