Folino's goal, another shutout send No. 6 BYU women's soccer to 3rd-straight Sweet 16

PROVO — Death. Taxes. BYU women's soccer against the Pac-12.

Bella Folino scored midway through the second half, and goalkeeper Lynette Hernaez made six saves to make it stand up as the top-seeded Cougars topped USC 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd of 4,175 fans Thursday night at South Field.

Brecken Mozingo, who tied for the team-high with three shots (with Olivia Wade-Katoa), assisted on the game-winning goal for BYU (18-2-3) for her team-best 13th assist of the season in her team's second consecutive postseason shutout.

This match wasn't like the previous two matches against Pac-12 opponents — at home against then-No. 1 UCLA and a road win over rival Utah — in the 2023 regular season. The Cougars, who improved to 3-0 with an aggregate score of 10-2 against the trio, was outshot 16-15, though BYU put up seven shots on target to the Trojans' six.

That included an off-target shot by Aaliyah Farmer with 24 seconds remaining, with BYU bodies colliding around the USC junior. But appeals for a penalty from the Trojans' coaching staff fell on deaf ears in the final seconds as the hosts held on.

"USC is a fantastic team, and they've had a great season. They were very well-coached," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "They were defensively really solid in the first half, even though I thought we had a lot of the run of play. It was just hard for us to get in behind them and get a good look at goal. Their defense was really challenging for us. ... But we got the ball down deep from Brecken, and Bella found the back of the net for us."

BYU and USC (11-5-3) each put up eight shots in the first half, but All-Pac 12 freshman Maribel Flores had the best chance of the first 45 minutes before Hernaez saved a breakaway attempt in the 35th minute to keep the match level.

Hernaez and USC counterpart Hannah Dickinson made four saves apiece to keep the first-half clean sheet.

Before the Trojans could register a shot in the second half, Folino had given the Cougars the lead.

Mozingo collected a long cross from Kendall Petersen in the right corner of the penalty box, turned her hips slightly toward the penalty spot, and found her fellow senior. All Folino had to do was collect and finish in one swooping motion directly in front of goal, and BYU had a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute.

"Petey crossed it to Brecken, Brecken passed it to me, I took a touch, and just hit it as hard as I could," said Folino of her seventh goal of the season and 35th of her career. "I know Brecken knows how to pass the ball like that and find open spaces. I knew it was coming."

Of course, USC didn't go away, like when Simone Jackson ripped a shot towards the center of the goal that Hernaez went low to collect in the 69th minute.

Then there was Farmer's shot in the dying seconds, which kissed the upper side of the crossbar as it sailed into the standing room-only crowd behind Hernaez.

"It was super chaotic," BYU center back Izzi Stratton said. "The intensity was just really high. We were all locked in, and luckily they didn't score on that last one. My heart definitely dropped a little, but watching it go over was a good feeling, for sure."

Imagine, then, how the Trojans felt.

"The last five minutes, really, all you could do was try as hard as possible and get as many numbers in the box as possible; we had our center back in the box. That should tell you something about where our brain was at," USC senior Zoe Burns said after the match. "I'm so proud of my team. I think this was the most professional we've played and acted all season, and that's all you can ask.

"Those last five minutes, you could see the heart and the drive, how much we really wanted it. ... There were a couple of calls that we wish went our way, but the game goes on, but it was definitely chaos."

The Cougars advanced to face Michigan State in Saturday's Round of 16, BYU's third-straight trip to the third round and fourth time in five years that includes a berth in the College Cup semifinals and national championship match in 2021.

After outshooting the Crimson 8-6 in the first half, the Spartans earned a penalty kick in the 50th minute and Justina Gaynor put it away to put Michigan State up 1-0.

Kaitlyn Parks collected five saves for Michigan State, which was outshot by Harvard 21-11 including a 5-2 margin in shots on goal in favor of the Crimson.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST at South Field.

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