The Arizona soccer team battled No. 18 Brigham Young University to the brink, but the Cougars were able to score a late goal to sneak out of Mulcahy Stadium with a 1-0 win Saturday night.

In the second half, the Wildcats (2-5-1) outplayed BYU early but couldn’t hold off the Cougars late as BYU forward Kassidy Shumway scored from the top of the box on a pass from teammate Carlee Payne in the 84th minute to give her team the lead.

“”After the game I told (the team) that they played well,”” said Arizona head coach Dan Tobias. “”It’s hard in these types of games because it stings.””

Arizona forward Jasmine Namdar had a point-blank scoring chance in the front of the net, receiving a pass from teammate Samantha Drees with 30 seconds left in the game, but was unable to put it in as she missed wide left.

“”I knew we had to equal it up, and when I saw Sam get the ball I knew this was it,”” said Namdar. “”I got myself in position and unfortunately it didn’t stick, but you have to give Sam credit for getting it in the right spot. Hopefully next time we can tuck it away.””

The first half was filled with BYU scoring chances, the most notable coming in the 15th minute when forward Alyssa Vander Veur nearly scored as she hit the crossbar.

Though the Cougars threatened to score on several occasions, the Wildcats were fortunate to go into halftime tied at 0-0.

“”Most of their chances were from a distance. If we’re giving up chances from outside the box to a really good team I’m OK with that,”” Tobias said. “”At halftime we felt good about being equalized and we talked about taking better care of the ball. That’s what we did.””

Though Arizona did not  get the result they would have liked, Tobias said he noticed an improvement in his team from their previous game.

“”I told the team that we’re going to get better from this game, and I think this was a good building block before we go to California,”” he said.

Arizona will take on UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly in California this weekend.