Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — The rematch is set between BYU women's soccer and crosstown rival Utah Valley.
The 15th-ranked Cougars will host the Wolverines in the first round of the NCAA women's soccer tournament on Friday at South Field (6 p.m. MST). It's the rematch of a near-annual regular-season contest, the most recent of which went 4-2 to Utah Valley on the same field on Sept. 10.
Hannah Lee, Isabella Stewart, Julianna Carter and UVU all-time leading scorer Heather Stainbrook each scored a goal in that match for Utah Valley, which rallied from Brecken Mozingo's goal that gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead early and another from Allie Fryer that tied the match at 2-2.
"I couldn't be prouder of the effort the team put in," Utah Valley coach Chris Lemay said of the win at the time. "I thought they executed the game plan well. I thought we took our chances. Obviously, we were up against a very good side in BYU. We knew that it would take everything that we had. We showed up and we gave it everything for a full 90 minutes. The result was fair and well earned."
The Wolverines went on to win the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title with a record of 14-4-3, including a 9-1-1 mark in WAC play. UVU was led by Stainbrook, who scored 13 goals to go along with seven assists, and Faith Webber, the sophomore JUCO product from Michigan who tallied 14 goals and seven assists on the season.
Monday's tournament draw will be the first-ever at-large appearance by Utah Valley in program history, owed primarily to a top-40 final rating in the RPI.
"When I was hired at Utah Valley, I said that we needed to get this program in a spot where one bad day or one misfortune in one weekend doesn't affect our ability to get into the NCAA Tournament and we've finally got there and arrived," Lemay said. "It's something we've been building for a long time. Over the course of the season, we did prove that we're deserving as being recognized as one of the best teams in the country and you can't have a national tournament without one of the best teams in the nation.
"We're obviously very grateful to the committee for doing their due diligence and really doing their homework about how good we are and can be."
But the Cougars haven't lost since that match on Sept. 10, an 11-match unbeaten streak that includes seven wins en route to the No. 2 team in the West Coast Conference. The run also includes a scoreless draw against Santa Clara, which won the league title and the WCC's automatic bid for a league that also sent Portland to the national tournament.
Punched our ticket🎟
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 7, 2022
SEE YOU THIS FRIDAY
6PM SOUTH FIELD 🌟 pic.twitter.com/Rn8n5euoRH
Since then, the Cougars have been an offensive force, leading the nation in shots at 26.33 per match. Utah Valley ranks third with 20.33 shots per match.
"I think we were just in a rut; I don't know if the team knew why," freshman Allie Frey said of the unbeaten run that followed the loss to the Wolverines. "But we're very attack-minded as a team, and I think we lost that. Our coaches have really drilled into our heads to be shooters first. We're a shooting team, and I think everyone has taken confidence to take those shots.
"I think that's the biggest difference: We're finally taking shots."
Mozingo, who was named WCC offensive player of the week for the final week of the regular season, leads the Cougars with 12 goals — trailing only one player in the West Coast Conference, Santa Clara's Izzy D'Aquila with 18. Mozingo's 10 assists also ranks the fourth-most in a single season in BYU program history.
The Cougars, which ranked No. 20 in the country in RPI en route to a No. 6 seed, will make their 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance under Jennifer Rockwood, a tenure that also includes five Sweet 16 appearances, two Elite 8's and one College Cup finals appearance in 2021 (when BYU started as a No. 12 seed before finishing national runners-up).
The winner of BYU and UVU will face the winner of Mountain West champion San Jose State and third-seeded Stanford, the Pac-12 champion, in the second round Nov. 18-20. The 2022 NCAA College Cup semifinals are finals will be held Dec. 2-5 at WakeMade Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
