BYU women's soccer opens Big 12 tournament with 5-goal rout of Oklahoma State

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — College football fans are used to Big 12 After Dark from LaVell Edwards Stadium, where BYU football is 8-0 on the season.

BYU women's soccer made "Big 12 before brunch" just as successful.

Mika Krommenhoek totaled two goals and an assist, and Allie Fryer scored her career-high 11th goal of the year with a brace as the Cougars overwhelmed Oklahoma State 5-0 in a quarterfinal of the Big 12 women's soccer tournament at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.

MacKenzee Vance added a goal, who jumped out to a 4-0 halftime lead and never looked back.

Lynette Hernaez made four saves for BYU (9-5-5), splitting the shutout with fellow goalkeeper Kelsey Hoopes as the Cougars held Oklahoma State to four shots on target despite being out-shot 13-11 by the Cowgirls (14-4-3).

Krommenhoek doubled her season goal tally 69 seconds into the match to put the Cougars up, 1-0.

Then freshman from Maple Mountain struck again before the fifth minute, striking a failed clearance of Ella Rustand's cross in the box with one touch inside the far post for the 2-0 advantage with her third goal of the year — all against Oklahoma State.

The Cougars weren't done, either. Not by a long shot.

Fryer scored in the 22nd minute, scoring her team-best 10th goal of the season on a one-hopper past the goalkeeper that give the Maple Mountain alum a second consecutive double-digit goal scoring campaign at BYU.

The two goal scorers combined in the 29th minute, with Krommenhoek blitzing by a defender to set set up Fryer with a one-touch goal in front of goal.

"I think this is the earliest morning game I've ever played, and the girls were ready," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said at halftime of the 9 a.m. local time kickoff. "We got off to a great start, scored some nice goals, and did something we haven't been able to do consistently."

Vance added another score two minutes after kicking off the second half, ripping her sixth goal of the season in the 47th minute to stretch the margin to 5-0.

Oklahoma State nearly pulled one back in the 60th minute, when Lucy Kesler was called for a handball against Logan Heausler's shot.

But Hernaez dove to her right to make a save against Xcaret Pineda, who skied her follow-up attempt as BYU kept the clean sheet through the hour mark.

Hoopes replaced Hernaez about 10 minutes later in the 72nd minute for BYU, finishing out the final eight minutes of the shutout.

The Cougars advanced to the Big 12 tournament semifinals, where they will face top-seeded TCU, which defeated No. 9 Colorado 3-1, Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. MT at CPKC Stadium.

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