In a battle of opposing styles, the BYU women’s soccer team was the winner Thursday night against Saint Louis.

The 13th-ranked Cougars took an early 2-0 lead against the No. 21 Billikens and made it hold up, finishing their season opener with a 3-2 victory at South Field.

BYU relies on possession and builds the offense from the back line, while Saint Louis prefers a more direct approach by booting the ball into the offensive third. Both teams created scoring opportunities with their styles but it was the Cougars fast start that proved the difference.

“It’s a kind of soccer that we’ll probably see a lot as we enter the Big 12,” BYU senior midfielder Olivia Wade-Katoa said. “I feel like that’s kind of more the vibe of soccer that they play in the south, just the more physical, stronger and direct soccer. So I think that’s why Coach Jen schedule this game. We know Saint Louis is a top 25 program. So being able to play against a team where we know that they like to play direct really gave us a good look at what we’re probably going to see a lot this season.”

The Cougars found the back of the net in the second minute of the match. Allie Fryer headed a volley off the crossbar but Bella Folino was there to settle the carom and score for a quick 1-0 BYU lead.

It didn’t take long for the Cougars to double the lead. Jamie Shepherd dribbled the ball to the end line and fired a shot that Billikens goalkeeper Emily Puricelli deflected away. Wade-Katoa was right there for the bounce and scored in the ninth minute for a 2-0 advantage.

“Something we talk about a lot is ‘Score first, score early and score again,'” Wade-Katoa said. “That’s kind of what our offensive motto is and it really does put a lot of teams on their heels right from the get-go.”

Saint Louis, which won the Atlantic 10, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished with a school record 20 wins last season, took advantage of a lazy BYU pass in the defensive third to break into the scoring column.  Caroline Kelly lofted a shot from 30 yards that Cougar keeper Savanna Mason deflected but couldn’t keep out of the goal, trimming the home team’s lead to 2-1 in the 14th minute.

That goal invigorated the Billikens and they played BYU even most of the rest of the first half. In the 43rd minute, Kendall Peterson made a beautiful run and threaded a pass to Erin Bailey inside the 18. Bailey spun and and drilled a shot for the 3-1 halftime lead for the Cougars.

“It was huge because we lost the momentum after they scored their goal,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “Erin just got the ball and struck it as hard as she could on frame and if we had done that a few other times, I think we could have scored some more goals. Their keeper was very good and she made some great saves. But Erin’s goal was huge. It made all the difference and I’m super happy for her.”

The score remained 3-1 until late in the game. Emily Gaebe brought Saint Louis within a goal (3-2) with just 4:10 to play, her shot deflecting off BYU defender Izzy Stratton and into the net.

Gaebe had a shot inside the 18 with just seconds to play that soared over the goal, much to the relief of the Cougar fans.

Aside from the late score, both teams created multiple scoring opportunities in the second half but the defenses were up to the task. Puricelli finished with 11 saves and Mason had seven for BYU.

“It’s a huge win for us against the leading scoring team in the country (last year),” Rockwood said. “We weren’t at our best, but if you’re not playing really good teams, you don’t know what you need to work on. We found a lot of things we need to work on tonight. Saint Louis is going to win a ton of games this year. They’re super dangerous. They’re probably going to be more dangerous than they were last year because they return a lot of players. We created a lot of our own issues and our own problems.

“But I feel great about this team. This team is looking fantastic. I think we all would have liked to have played better tonight. But you challenge yourself from the beginning and you get a great result against an opponent that you know is going to win a lot of games and you get to learn some great lessons.”

The Cougars outshot the Billikens 26-17 and had 19 shots on goals to the visitors’ 14.

BYU has won six straight season openers, including a 1-0 victory against Cal State Fullerton last season. The Cougars are 21-3-4 in season openers and 8-0-2 when starting the season on South Field.

Saturday, BYU (1-0) hosts Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. on South Field. The Titans earned a 0-0 tie with Boston College on Thursday to start the season.