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PROVO — BYU women's soccer counts 23 players from the state of Utah on its 2023 roster, including all but two that lined up in the starting 11 against TCU.
On Thursday night, one that got away gave them fits. And a former Layton High star came to the rescue off the bench.
Erin Bailey scored her team-high sixth goal of the season in the 78th minute to help top-ranked BYU salvage a 3-3 draw with TCU in the Cougars' Big 12 opener in front of a standing room-only crowd at South Field.
Welcome to the Big 12 to the 15-time conference champions and 2022 NCAA Tournament runner-ups.
"It was a different game," said Bailey, the Cougars' super sub who has amassed all six of her goals off the bench. "For sure, we're learning a lot already. We're just happy that if we have to learn, we'll take a draw instead of a loss. We learned a lot that it's physical; they're going to do anything to win. We learned a lot from their tactics to win, and I don't think we were prepared for that. We just need to adjust, learn from this game, take the tie and move on."
Rachel McCarthy and Allie Fryer also scored a goal for the Cougars (7-0-1, 0-0-1 Big 12), who got two assists from Ellie Walbruch.
"Fantastic college game tonight. The atmosphere was unbelievable, the soccer was awesome. Obviously, we're disappointed with the outcome," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "But I'm really proud of the way that we fought back against a great TCU team that proved to be able to score more goals than we had hoped. They scored that early one. Seven did an amazing job, two girls from the same club team going at it and Seven came on top, but I thought we fought back."
Magical goal for EB7🪄
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) September 15, 2023
📺 https://t.co/q1a8QRepBipic.twitter.com/knMFvWMk4y
Draper native Seven Castain led the Horned Frogs (3-3-2) with two goals, the first multi-goal game of her collegiate career for the sophomore who prepped at Waterford, and Lauren Kellett made nine saves for TCU, which dropped points for the third time against a top-10 opponent nationally.
"It definitely was interesting, playing in front of a crowd that wasn't cheering for us. The silence when I scored was weird," said Castain, whose family wore homemade TCU shirts while sitting among the 5,416 fans on BYU's campus. "But knowing I had people in the stands cheering for me, in my hometown, with people I've played against my whole life, I came out with confidence and super excited to play. I'm happy to be home."
In the Cougars' first conference game against the league champions two of the past three years, BYU out-shot the Horned Frogs 24-7 with 12 shots on goal. But the Cougars fell behind early, something they haven't done all season.
TCU jumped out early when Gracie Brian scored a right-footed shot into the top shelf less than two minutes into the match.
Prior to Brian's goal in the upper 90 just 1:51 into the match, the Cougars had led for 555 of the previous 630 minutes of the season, with 74:49 of a tie game. But when the BYU back line didn't clear a ball hard enough, Brian made no mistake lacing up the Frogs' lead that stood through the first half.
Castain, who led the nation in goals per game as a senior en route to a 2A state title with the Ravens, doubled the advantage and finished a breakaway past in the 27th minute for the former Big 12 all-freshman selection's second goal of the season.
McCarthy pulled one back in the 36th minute for the Cougars, heading home a long free kick across the face of goal by Walbruch to cut the deficit to 2-1 with her third goal of the year.
BYU out-shot TCU 9-5 before the break, but the visitors converted two of their three shots on target and Lauren Kellett made four saves to take the lead into halftime.
SEVEN. CASTAIN.😤@CastainSeven records her first multi-goal game in her career! pic.twitter.com/rtMILYRgsa
— TCU Soccer (@TCUSoccer) September 15, 2023
"It was great one-v-one. We said at halftime, we needed some players to step up and show their one-v-one ability," Rockwood said. "But it was just a good one-v-one, and Seven scored two really nice goals; what can you say?"
Fryer tied the game in the 54th minute, sprinting down the middle after taking a feed from Olivia Wade Katoa to put away her fifth goal of the season.
Less than 10 minutes later, Castain gave the lead right back to the visitors, punching home an assist from Brian in the 61st minute for the Draper native's first multi-goal match of her collegiate career.
But with Castain waiting on the sideline after subbing off, Bailey collected a pass from Walbruch and slotted home another equalizer in the 78th minute to knot the two former Mountain West rivals at 3-3 and give the top two of the top teams in the conference a draw on the opening night of league play.
"It was a huge step for us. We needed this, honestly," Castain said. "And coming here to BYU, with 7,000 fans not cheering for you, getting three goals and a result was huge. It really just sets us up for conference (play). If we can play the way we played tonight against every team, I think we have a really good chance of winning."
BYU wraps up nonconference play Saturday against Utah State. Kickoff from Logan is scheduled for 3 p.m. MDT on the Mountain West Network.
