Sooners Downed in Close Battle with No. 8 BYU

Monday, October 16

John Crain Field

7 PM CT

University of Oklahoma

7-8-2, 3-4-2

BYU

13-1-3, 6-0-3

BYU

Oklahoma

Sooners Downed in Close Battle with No. 8 BYU

October 16, 2023 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score

By: OU Athletics Communications

NORMAN – Oklahoma was downed 2-0 by No. 8 BYU on Senior Night on Monday at John Crain Field in Norman.

The loss was Oklahoma's (7-8-2, 3-4-2 Big 12) second of the season at home as the Sooners remain in ninth place in the Big 12 standings, two points clear of the Big 12 Championship cut with one game remaining in conference play.

"I'm really proud of the way we played tonight," head coach Matt Mott said. "That's a really, really good BYU team that is absolutely one of the most talented teams in the country. We fought with them the whole time. It was a bummer to give up that goal right before halftime because I thought we deserved something for our play in the first half, too. Then you give up a little mistake and they punished us. But overall, really happy with how we played and fought. We're playing at a high level at the right time."

The Sooners opened the game by protecting its defensive third for most of the first 20 minutes as OU felt out the potent BYU (13-1-1, 6-0-3 Big 12) attack. Entering the night, the Cougars had notched a Big 12-best 53 goals on the season. But as the two teams settled in, Oklahoma found chances through senior Emma Hawkins, who notched two shots, one on goal, in the first half that nearly put OU in front. But BYU found an advantage late in the first half, as the Cougars countered an OU attack and found the match's first goal in the 43rd minute to take a 1-0 lead into the break.

Olivia Ramey made a strong save in the 47th minute to open the second half, and Oklahoma began to push the pace in search of an equalizer. Mott's team thought they tied the game in the 57th minute when Alexis Washington played the ball across the box to Dani Wolfe, who slotted it past the BYU goalkeeper. However, Wolfe was ruled offside, and the goal was disallowed. As OU threw its numbers forward, the Cougars caught the Sooners on another counter, scoring in the 72nd minute to take a 2-0 lead until the final whistle.

The Sooners outshot BYU 8-5 and forced Cougar goalkeeper Lynette Hernaez to make a career-high seven saves. It was the first time that BYU, who leads the nation in shots on goal per game, had been outshot this season. Ramey, the starting Oklahoma goalkeeper, saw her career-long shutout streak end at 240 minutes but tallied three saves in the loss. Five of OU's eight shots on goal came from seniors Emma Hawkins, Dani Wolfe and Esalenna Galekhutle, all honored pregame alongside fellow senior Cailey England.

Monday night's attendance of 1,754 was the program's 10th largest all-time, as Sooner fans posted back-to-back top-10 attendance numbers at John Crain Field after over 2,000 attended the Oct. 12 match vs. Texas. The program's student attendance for the season closed at 2,461, setting a new program standard by over 50 students per game.

The Sooners will look to regroup and close their regular season strong when they travel to Stillwater for a match against Oklahoma State next Monday, Oct. 23. First touch is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. A win would guarantee Oklahoma a spot in the postseason Big 12 tournament.