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PROVO — Elena Medeiros has had some special games in her four-year career at BYU.
The senior attacking midfielder savored every one — and helped save her best for last.
Medeiros scored her 20th career goal, and fellow senior Michele Vasconcelos added a marker to lead the No. 4 BYU women’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over UNLV in the first round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament Friday night at South Field.
“At the start of the season, we made a goal: to win conference, and to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Medeiros said. “Having that goal in mind all season led up to this game, and for a lot of us, it was bittersweet as one of our last games on South Field. But we made the most of it as a senior class, and I think collectively we came out with the result we needed.
“We are excited to keep moving forward.”
The Cougars (17-2-1), who have won six-straight and eight of their last nine matches, advanced to face Oklahoma (14-6-2) in the regional round of the tournament, which will be hosted by No. 1 seed South Carolina (19-1-1). The Gamecocks defeated Alabama State 7-0 on Friday night.
“I thought the girls did a great job and came out strong against a very good UNLV team that was very athletic and had one of their best seasons,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “It was a big challenge for us, but we came out, got a goal that helped us relax, and then at halftime we challenged the girls to score as early as they could. They did that, and then there were a lot of things we can learn from this game. We’re excited and anxious to go to South Carolina.”
Nadia Gomes nearly scored just eight minutes into the match, but her tap-in from Ashley Hatch was ruled offside.
“We practice our attack so much, it’s been our main focus this last month, and Nadia had a great shot to touch it in,” Rockwood said. “We were all celebrating and didn’t realize it had been called back. But I think the confidence the girls have gained with their preparation, I don’t think there is a time on the field where they don’t feel like they are capable of scoring.
“Even though it was called back, this group is even more hungry to go after it. That’s what they did.”
Then it was Vasconcelos that opened the scoring with the final touch on a ball from Hatch in the 20th minute, and Hannah Clark made two first-half saves to take a 1-0 lead at the break.
With a 10-minute rest in the locker room, Elena Medeiros needed just three minutes to double the Cougars’ advantage. The former Bountiful High standout ended a sprint with a sliding goal to tap home Paige Barker’s cross in the 48th minute for a 2-0 lead.
“At halftime, Jen always pushes us for two goals. We came out with a lot of energy,” Medeiros said. “It was kind of a weird scramble, but the ball got wide to Paige and she just played the perfect ball across … and I was there to tap it in. It was a pretty easy goal; Paige set it up perfectly for me.”
Hatch nearly got a third, but her counter-attack strike was blocked by UNLV goalkeeper Jordan Sallee in the 54th minute.
The Cougars outshot the Rebels (16-4-3), 18-7 with a 10-2 shots-on-frame margin in UNLV’s first tournament appearance since 2006.
“These seniors have set the bar high, and they’ve changed the culture of this program,” UNLV coach Chris Shaw said. “The challenge is now for the juniors, sophomores and freshmen to continue that. It’s going to be on the shoulders of the returners to keep those standards high.”
BYU held UNLV’s Lily Sender, the Mountain West offensive player of the year who had 15 goals on the season, to one shot on goal — a 15th-minute strike that Clark kept out of the net.
With the win, the Cougars collected the 10th shutout of the season and sixth at South Field.
“It’s always great to keep a shutout,” said BYU defender Taylor Campbell Isom, the West Coast Conference defensive player of the year. “Our forwards are always pressing, making it easy for us, and the midfield presses so that when the ball comes to us, it is very readable. Our main goal is to keep a shutout.
“UNLV pressured us, they had the top goal scorer in their conference, and we were well aware of that. We just blocked shots.”
With BYU’s regional path set in Columbia, South Carolina, and the NCAA College Cup semifinals set for Dec. 2 at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, the Cougars wrapped up the home slate with an 8-1-1 record.
As Isom made the final lap of the season to shake hands with the 3,276 fans at South Field, she savored one final home crowd of her junior season.
“It’s an incredible experience playing here at BYU,” she said. “It’s unreal. I don’t think anybody knows what it feels like until they are here.
“Carrying that momentum, I know our fans will be watching and listening to our games, and we’ll still have contact with them and carry on our momentum.”
