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PROVO, Utah—The Dons played even with one of the better teams in the country for the first 60 minutes of the match before No. 17 BYU was able to score and took the West Coast Conference match 3-0 on Saturday night.
 
"They're effort was incredible tonight," San Francisco head coach Jim Millinder said. "Everything I see is encouraging but what is disappointing to me is for the girls not to get the result… the game was won and lost with our inability to score on chances."
 
The match against BYU marked the end of their grueling 2014 road schedule that included matches at Boston University, Pepperdine, Denver and Colorado.
 
"This team has come so far from last year," Millinder said. "We could have won all six [conference] games. There wasn't one game where we could say we were totally outplayed... They've matured, they've grown up.
 
"They're starting to believe and understand what it takes to the NCAA Tournament. This team is going in the right direction."
 
Mackenzie Krieser nearly got the Dons on the board early when her ninth minute shot hit the outside of the left post.
 
Shortly after checking into the game in the 39th minute, Carissa Martine found a cutting Rochelle Weerackoon for the goal but it was called back for offsides.
 
The Dons took the high-powered BYU to halftime in a scoreless tie.
 
"We were going to sit in and not chase them," Millinder said. "The kids executed the game plan for the first 60 minutes. Our kids did a great job defending but we got to score goals."
 
San Francisco had a golden opportunity to get on the board in the 52nd minute when Krieser's shot curled from about 25 yards out but a leaping save by BYU goalkeeper Katherine Snyder.
 
Less than a minute later, Amanda Whittle broke out to the right and found an opening from the top of the box and her shot went just wide of the goal.
 
After holding BYU's offense scoreless through the first 60 minutes of play, the Cougars finally broke through when Elena Medeiros fired from about 30 yards out and it found the top right corner of the goal, just out of the reach of Dons goalkeeper Madalyn Schiffel, giving BYU the 1-0 lead.
 
BYU took a commanding lead when they scored twice in a three minute span and took a 3-0 lead.
 
"When you take the second goal, I saw the wheels come off the bus then it was a whole different game," Millinder said. "They played extremely well for 60 minutes. We missed three chances and we didn't finish."
 
The Dons had one final shot to get on the board when Sonja Giraud lined up for a penalty kick in the 78th minute but Snyder dove to her left to make the save.
 
USF had seven shots but only managed to get one on goal.
 
The Dons will return home for the final three games of the season, beginning on Friday against Portland on Oct. 31.