Bailey's brace powers No. 7 BYU women's soccer to 6-1 win over Utah Valley

OREM — The next game is the most important — even after a historic 3-1 win over UCLA.

Less than 48 hours after polishing off a first-ever win over the top-ranked team in the country, Erin Bailey scored her first career brace to power the seventh-ranked BYU women's soccer team to a 6-1 road win over crosstown rival Utah Valley in front of a stadium-record crowd of 4,742 fans Saturday night at Clyde Field.

Ellie Boren added a goal and an assist, and Brecken Mozingo, Allie Fryer and Ellie Walbruch also scored a goal apiece for the Cougars (6-0).

"We knew this would be a tough game for us, from what we experienced last year and coming off some frustrating results against Colorado, Arkansas and Alabama. We didn't show up for the game last year," said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood, whose team improved to 8-1 all-time against Utah Valley. "We knew the potential, how good they are, and that they would be coming after us. But this is the next most important game of the season; we had to get a result in this one in order for the UCLA win to mean more. It's just part of our journey in building each game, and we needed to be better than we were on Thursday."

Sadie Beardall scored the lone goal of the match for the Wolverines, the WAC preseason favorites who dropped to 2-2-1 on the year with a second-straight loss.

The record-setting crowd broke the previous record at Clyde Field of 3,952, set during the Wolverines' home match Sept. 16, 2019 against BYU.

"The community really showed up for us tonight and we're grateful they packed Clyde Field," UVU head coach Chris Lemay said. "BYU is a very good team and nothing but credit to them. We were poor in the final attacking third and we were poor in our defensive third as well. It's a weird one when you have more shots, you have equal possession, you have more corner kicks, and you lose by five. Unfortunately, the only stat that matters is the scoreboard and BYU absolutely dominated us in that regard."

Kendell Petersen opened the offense in the 11th minute, finding Bella Folino for an easy push to Mozingo for the opening goal to go up 1-0.

Just 10 minutes later, Fryer doubled the advantage, finishing a header in the top left corner from Boren to go up 2-0.

Bailey scored her first goal of the match in the 34th minute, finishing true and center to push the visitors' advantage to 3-0.

"I was through to goal, and 1-v-1's are my favorite thing in the whole world," said Bailey, who has scored in four of the Cougars' first six matches — all off the bench. "I was like 'bet; let's go.' Perfect, and then I knew I was going to go at her. Then Ellie yelled at me to shoot it, I kept going, took it at her, and knew it was my time. It was a perfect opportunity."

After Beardall pulled one back for the Wolverines in the 36th minute, Bailey tallied her first career brace less than two minutes later, finishing off a cross from Tara Warner in the 38th minute with a tap-in to help the Cougars to a 4-1 halftime lead.

BYU out-shot the Wolverines 10-7 in the first half, but held the crosstown rivals to just two shots on target that included Beardall's goal.

"We had some heavy legs, because we ran a lot on Thursday," Rockwood said. "But I'm really proud of how we came out, got some really good experience. Erin coming off the bench and putting a couple more goals in was huge … and Brecken getting us going 10 minutes in was huge. I think our starters did a fantastic job getting the game going, and then our bench came in as they've done all season and gave us some really good minutes."

Boren knotted the Cougars' fifth in the 62nd minute, chipping the keeper from the stop of the box to push the advantage to 5-1.

Walbruch finished off the scoring in the 82nd minute, pacing a left-footed shot from the center of the box from Lytiana Akinaka for the 6-1 final margin.

The former UCLA striker nearly bagged another in the 87th minute, but her open shot from inside the box caromed off the underside of the crossbar before Utah Valley cleared the danger.

"The next game that we're playing is going to be the most important game of the season," Bailey said. "We need to focus on the next game from now on.

"After (the win over UCLA), none of us could sleep. So we slept in, had a night practice, and then we had a team meeting and said, 'it's time to reset.' … UVU is a good team; they beat us last year on South Field. None of us are ever going to forget that."

BYU hits the road for another in-state rivalry match next Saturday, Sept. 9 at Utah. The Wolverines travel to face USC Thursday.

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