Gomes' goal gives BYU 1-1 home draw with No. 21 Utah in rivalry match

PROVO — The BYU women’s soccer team hadn’t scored a goal in nearly three matches, since a 1-1 home draw against Cal State Fullerton.

When the Cougars went down 1-0 at halftime to rival Utah, senior forward Nadia Gomes wasn’t going to let it go any further.

Gomes scored the equalizer in the 57th minute, and BYU held on for a 1-1 draw against No. 21 Utah in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 5,367 Friday night at South Field.

“I had adrenaline all through my body; I was really excited, because it’s always a really good game,” said Gomes, who scored the 19th goal of her BYU career.

“I think we battled, and played really good.”

For just the second time in series history, the Cougars (0-3-3) and Utes split the points. BYU leads the all-time series, 21-7-2.

With the draw, the Cougars tied a program record with six-straight winless matches in a single season, including a program-high mark to open a season.

The visiting Utes (4-1-1) jumped out to the early advantage.

Utah’s Eden Jacobsen needed only one counter-attacking strike to notch the opener even as BYU outshot the Utes 5-3 in the opening 45 minutes. The Woods Cross product cruised down the right side and took a pass from Paola Van der Veen in the 30th minute, then slotted her the opening goal inside the far post for the 1-0 halftime advantage.

“We have a team that loves challenges, and they saw this as a big challenge,” Utah coach Rich Manning said. “We’ve played well in this game for 3-4 years and haven’t gotten results, and I think they were pretty determined to try to get something out of tonight.”

The Cougars had plenty of chances to take the early lead. Avery Walker’s corner kick in the 16th minute was just high of the crossbar, and Lizzy Braby settled a spinning ball into the box before her shot was deflected out for an innocuous corner kick in the 25th minute.

Even the chances are a step up for BYU.

“We’ve just got to shoot more,” said head coach Jennifer Rockwood, whose team put up 14 shots with five on frame. “Tonight we shot more than we have in the past few games against a very good, ranked team. The fact that we got some more looks is good.”

Just over five minutes in the second half, Gomes equalized for the Cougars with her first goal of the season. The former Brighton High standout scored the 19th goal of her BYU career by converting on a scramble in the box after Timpanogos product Carly Nelson misplayed a pass from Utah center back Natalee Wells in a dangerous position.

“Right when the center back passed it to her, it was a bouncy pass and I knew she had to take a touch. So just sprinted at her,” said Gomes, who sported a bloody upper lip from the physical contest that saw 21 foul calls. “I didn’t know it was going to hit me, but when it hit my foot, I was excited.”

Both teams had chances to win it in the final moments of regulation. But BYU’s Hannah Clark made a diving save on a header in the waning seconds of the match, just four minutes after Nelson went low to save Madie Lyons Mathews’ shot from inside the box.

Clark made eight saves to earn the point for BYU, and Nelson had four saves for the Utes.

“She was fantastic,” Rockwood said of Clark. “She came up really big for us, and hopefully that’s a big confidence booster for us.

“Now we’ve got to turn it around. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and that’s what we’ve got to figure it out.”

Utah was the Cougars’ third of five-straight Pac-12 opponents in non-conference play. They saw losses to No. 1 UCLA, and Colorado. BYU plays at Oregon State and Arizona next week before returning home Monday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. against Kansas.

Utah plays at No. 11 Duke on Monday.

Related topics