PROVO, Utah – Playing in one of the most hostile environments in the country, Santa Clara women's soccer earned a scoreless draw at No. 3 BYU Thursday night. The Broncos become just the second team this season to shutout the Cougars who are fifth in the nation with 3.0 goals per game.

Santa Clara (3-4-4, 0-0-1) is now 7-1-4 all-time against BYU (9-1-1, 0-0-1), who is ranked No. 2 in the RPI this season. The Broncos' possession-oriented style of play has helped them keep the Cougar offense in check.

"I'm very proud of the team's performance today," Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith said. "The team had a very disciplined performance against a very talented and dynamic offensive team. We did a great job of keeping possession and that really helped us keep BYU's talented front line from scoring. It's the same formula we've used in the past to have success against them."

BYU and Santa Clara were selected to finish first and second respectively in the West Coast Conference this year. To escape Provo with a point could prove huge in the battle for the Broncos 11th WCC title.

"This was a great way to kick-off WCC play for us," Smith said. "We came into a really tough place to play and got a point in front of 3,000 fans. Most teams come in here and leave with no points so that goes to show how wonderful a performance we had today."

Melissa Lowder had her best game in net, collecting six saves against the high-powered BYU offense. The biggest stop of the match came in the 74th minute when Lowder dove to her left to stop a rocket from Jocelyn Loomis.

"Melissa had a great game today," Smith said. "It's fantastic to see her play so well in her first year as a regular starter for us. She's very mature, focused, and a tremendous competitor. Her three best games this season have come against some of the best teams in the country in USC, Cal, and now BYU."

Ashley Hatch leads the nation with 12 goals but the Santa Clara defense didn't give her any room to breath. Hatch got off five shots but just one was on frame.

"Whenever you play the leading scorer in the country, you have a big challenge ahead of you," Smith said. "Our backline did an amazing job on all of their forwards, especially Hatch. They had some momentum in the second half but Anjel [Brown] made an unbelievable tackle on Hatch and got up to start a good attack for our offense."

In the 68th minute BYU had the best chance of the game to put one in the back of the net. Nadia Gomes had the ball in the six-yard box but Kellie Peay was able to get in front of the shot to deflect it away.

"I have to give a lot of credit to our backline today," Smith said. "Kellie made a great play to block a shot when they got behind our defense. We had a lot of people come off the bench and contribute. There were so many great performances today."

The Broncos most dangerous chance came off the foot of Maddie Gonzalez in the 72nd minute but Hannah Clark was able to make her second save of the night with much trouble.

Santa Clara returns to action Saturday at San Diego at 7 p.m.

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