Palo Alto, Calif. » The BYU soccer team's magical postseason run came to a halt here Saturday afternoon.

Surrendering a goal in the opening 23 seconds of the game, then another in the final minute, unbeaten and top-seeded Stanford knocked the Cougars out of the NCAA Cup with a 2-0 victory over the Cougars.

BYU (18-4-1) succeeded in holding Stanford (22-0) below its shots-per-game average, limiting the Cardinal to just 22, six on goal. But after the Christen Press right-footed a 6-yard shot into the net just 23 seconds into the match, the Cougars found themselves playing catch-up the rest of the day.

BYU, which defeated UC-Santa Barbara Thursday in the first round of the tournament, managed 15 shots, but only a pair were on-goal. That inability to get to the net finally caught up with the Cougars when the Cardinals' Lindsay Taylor scored in the 89th minute.

But BYU coach Jennifer Rockwell was hardly downcast in defeat, not after pressing Stanford into the final minute of the match.

"It was an honor to be here and play Stanford," Rockwood said. "I'm very proud of how hard our team played and the level at which we competed."

The Cougars, who surged into the postseason by winning eight of their last 10 games, knocked off New Mexico before losing to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference finals. It was good enough for an NCAA at-large berth.


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