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Provo • The 10th-ranked BYU women's soccer team's historic 3-2 win last week at No. 5 Penn State came at a cost.
Senior goalkeeper Rachel Boaz suffered a fractured hand, which required surgery. The West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year in 2015 will be out 4-6 weeks and will be replaced in the lineup by junior Hannah Clark.
The timing is not great, because the Cougars (2-1) are about to embark on a huge weekend that includes a match against the SEC's Tennessee (2-2) on Friday at South Field, followed by a showdown with rival Utah (3-1) on Monday in Salt Lake City.
Both matchups against Power Five conference teams are vital to BYU's quest to build a solid RPI before WCC play begins in late September, coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
Senior Ashley Hatch won NCAA and espnW National Player of the Week honors after recording her second career hat trick against Penn State, the reigning national champion. Hatch has scored all five of BYU's goals this season.
"It was an incredible performance against an excellent program," Rockwood said. "We played our game right from the beginning and were rewarded for it."
BYU led the nation in home attendance (38,466) last year and average home attendance per game (3,497) and is looking for another attendance record at 7 p.m. Friday against the Volunteers, who bank on their defense, having allowed 22 shots in their past two games. They defeated Liberty and East Tennessee and lost to Washington and Southeast Missouri.
The first 2,500 fans through the gates will receive free BYU soccer T-shirts. The Cougars drew 5,620 fans to South Field last year for their 2-0 win over Utah, a school attendance record, and are hoping to break that on Friday night. Also in BYU's sights is the highest attendance mark in the nation this season; an announced crowd of 5,875 watched UCLA defeat Texas A&M at College Station, Texas, last week.
BYU leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 2-1, and lead the all-time series with Utah, 16-6. The Utes will rest up this weekend, having defeated Weber State 4-0, Utah State 3-0 and San Diego 3-0 while losing 3-0 at Minnesota on Aug. 21.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Upcoming matches
No. 10 BYU vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m.
• Friday at South Field, Provo
• TV: BYUtv
Utah vs. No. 10 BYU, 3:30 p.m.
• Monday at Ute Field, Salt Lake City
• TV: Pac-12 Network