PROVO — Stop us if you’ve heard this before: a top-25 program at BYU hosted a top-10 opponent this weekend with a chance to make a statement midway.
One day before the eighth-ranked Cougars’ football team hosted No. 2 Notre Dame, the BYU women’s soccer team made a statement of its own.
Mattyn Summers-Oviatt tallied her first career brace as BYU stunned No. 8 Texas Tech, 3-2 in front of an announced crowd of 3,329 fans at South Field.
Mia Goettsche added a goal for the 22nd-ranked Cougars, who improved to 9-3-2 with a 5-1-1 record in Big 12 play and an unbeaten 7-0-1 mark at home in head coach Jennifer Rockwood’s final season at the helm of the program.
The finishing was one thing. But the service from the likes of Mika Krommenhoek, Presley Freeman, Emma Hamberlin and freshman Sydney Snow was on another level.
“We’ve been working a lot on service the last three weeks, so it’s exciting to see us put it together,” Rockwood said. “We’ve struggling scoring goals this year … Brilliant goals by Mattyn; I’m so excited for here. Goettsche got an important goal for us, too, to help us change the momentum and let us regroup.”
With apologies (perhaps) to then-No. 9 UCLA in the opening match of the season, this may have been the biggest win of the campaign (so far).
The win pushes BYU into a four-way tie for first in the Big 12 with Texas Tech’s first loss of the season, along with Baylor and Kansas at 5-1-1 apiece with four games left in the regular season.
“These last 3-4 weeks, I feel like we’ve gotten better with each game,” Rockwood said. “Even in the loss to West Virginia, we played probably our best 45 minutes and had one of our best games against a really good team.
“These girls deserve to have a little swag and a little confidence, because we’re playing some really good soccer,” added Rockwood, who admitted her team’s goal was to win the Big 12 regular season. “We knew that the goals would eventually come, and fortunately they came tonight against a really good Texas Tech team who has had a really good season so far … We’ll probably see them again, hopefully, in the tournament.”
Texas Tech (9-1-4, 5-1-1 Big 12) were riding high, allowing just one goal during a four-match win streak since opening league play with a 2-2 draw at then-No. 25 UCF. The Cougars, meanwhile, returned from a two-match road trip at No. 16 West Virginia and Cincinnati with a split that included a 2-0 loss to the Mountaineers.
But on the same night WVU was stunned 1-0 by UCF, the Cougars went toe-to-toe with the league leaders, putting up 13 shots to Tech’s 14, five shots on target to the Red Raiders’ six, and rallying from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 halftime lead and never giving back the advantage.
The stage was set with 1,000 students camped out on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay: a top-10 opponent at South Field with BYU back in the coaches’ top 25 at No. 22.
Even former BYU defender Abbi Sine knew it, as she made her 11th start in 14 appearances for the Red Raiders.
But 46 seconds in, disaster struck — or opportunity, for the Red Raiders.
BYU goalkeeper Paiton Collins mishandled a backward pass as Avery Frischknecht sought to play out of Texas Tech’s press. Sensing a half-step of an opening, Taylor Zdrojewski poked the ball away from Collins and slid in a goal from the middle of the penalty box to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 advantage in the first minute.
But Emma Hamberlin didn’t take long to equalize, taking a pass from Mika Krommenhoek and finding Goettsche off the end line for a one-touch finish that pulled the hosts even in the 17th minute.
But the Cougars matched the Red Raiders after the rough start. Summers-Oviatt gave the hosts a lead in the 44th minute, flying in for a header to meet freshman Sydney Snow’s cross set up by fellow Georgia native Presley Freeman playing a ball toward the corner flag en route to Summers-Oviatt’s third goal of the season.
Summers-Oviatt made it 3-1 in the 57th minute, polishing off a double after a brilliant through ball from Krommenhoek led the senior from Saratoga Springs to her first career brace.
But the Red Raiders weren’t done.
Zdrojewski pulled back another in the 71st minute, bagging her brace ahead of the final 20 that stood on video review. After Collins saved an initial shot, the senior from Celina, Texas, followed up for her 10th goal of the year to pull the visitors within one.
But Collins made four saves, and Frischknecht took a ball at full force to the stomach following a free kick at the edge of the penalty area to preserve the one-goal advantage in the 84th minute and hand the Red Raiders their first loss of conference play.
The Cougars hit the road again for back-to-back road matches beginning Thursday at Kansas (5 p.m. MT, ESPN+) and Monday, Oct. 26 at Iowa State (5 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
They’ll return home Friday, Oct. 30 to host in-state rival Utah (7:30 p.m. MT, ESPN+) and wrap up the regular season Nov. 5 on South Field against Arizona State.
