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By Rick Eymer
PA Online Sports

Christen Press and Lindsay Taylor each scored a goal, but it was the one Rachel Quon prevented that might have saved the Stanford women's soccer team.

Stanford downed BYU, 2-0, in a competitive match that was not decided until Taylor kicked in a rebound with 1:46 remaining to play.

The Cardinal (22-0) plays the winner of Sunday's Oklahoma State at Santa Clara match next weekend, with the likely possibility Stanford would host. The final decision will be made Monday night.

"This was a great game to have under our belts," Press said. "Every game is close in the playoffs. We like to play pretty soccer -- 10 passes and a score -- but sometimes you have to play scrappy, physical soccer. We learned from playing a great team todsy."

The Cougars had a great scoring opportunity in the final four minutes as Kira Maker was on the ground after stopping one shot. Quon roamed behind Maker to head off a BYU point blank shot.

"The coach always says if the keeper goes out to guard the goal," said Quon, at 5-foot-3 the second shortest player on the team to Teresa Noyola. "It seemed like instinct. I had to jump."

Press scored the fastest goal in Stanford history, taking a crossing pass from O'Hara and punching it along the ground and into the net 23 seconds into the contest.

She also had a nice view of the shot Quon headed away. Well, sort of.

"I was watching the shot and I followed into the net," Press said. "I couldn't see anybody else there and she came out of nowhere to make the way. I thought, 'no problem.'"

Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said it's a play you can't teach.

"It's just great instincts," he said. "Those are athletic plays. She had to time it and head it."

Press' scoring play came off the kickoff, from which the top-ranked Cardinal aggressively attacked the BYU net.

"We talked about trying to go forward from the start and attack hard," Press said. "Teams aren't used to us going right at them."

The 20th-ranked Cougars never backed down though and played Stanford as tough as any opponent has all year.

"It happened so far we didn't know what hit us," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "But we're a high-pressure team and we've done it that way all year. It was an honor to come here and play Stanford, the best team in the country. We came out strong and gave it all we had."

With 15:40 remaining in the first half a BYU player got off a kick that hit the crossbar and deflected out for another chance at an open net and that was headed out of play.

BYU also had a chance early in the second half on a corner kick that went wide.

"The last 15 minutes we dropped a defender to get an extra forward," Rockwood said. "We had a couple of chances to tie it, and we were close."

Stanford adjusted to BYU's aggressive style to outshoot the Cougars, 22-15, including 6-2 on goal.

"When we got the ball they ran right at us," Quon said. "We stayed composed and either cleared it or found an opening."

"It was difficult to play with so much pressure on the ball," Taylor said. "We had to play quicker and play tougher."

It was the third meeting between the two schools in the NCAA tournament, with the Cougars winning, 6-1 in 1998 and 5-0 in 2000.

Camille Levin had to leave the game in the first half after a hard tackle left her with a sore right ankle.

The Pac-10 went 6-2 in the first round, with California, Oregon State, Washington, UCLA and Washington State advancing into Sunday's second round.

Arizona State and USC were eliminated on penalty kicks.