College soccer tournament roundup: Aggies advance to Mountain West final for 2nd straight year
Ellie Hendrix had a goal and an assist as the 25th-ranked Aggies shut out Colorado State, 2-0 in Wednesday’s semifinals of the Mountain West tournament.
Utah State will play for a Mountain West title for a second straight year.
Ellie Hendrix had a goal and an assist as the 25th-ranked Aggies shut out Colorado State, 2-0 in Wednesday’s semifinals of the Mountain West tournament in San Diego, California.
Cora Brendle made one save to earn the shutout for Utah State (17-1-4), which advanced to Saturday’s championship match.
Hendrix scored early in the 40th minute, finishing a pass from Austin Miller en route to the Aggies’ 1-0 halftime lead.
The freshman from Desert Hills High in St. George helped double the advantage in the 83rd minute, taking a through-ball sprung by Mia Mullenmeister on a counter and crossing to Katie Christian for a one-touch finish in the center of the box for the final margin.
“This is a very good team we played against,” Utah State coach Manny Martins said. “They’re very well-organized and well-coached, and they did a fantastic job. They played with a tremendous spirit, but we stayed resilient.
“I thought we controlled the game and the tempo. They had one shot 30 minutes in and we had zero, but I think we wore them down a little bit and as the game went on we started to find our rhythm. When our game-changers, our young players came in, they really flipped the game upside down.”
TCU 2, BYU 1
Cameron Patton had two assists, and Draper native Seven Castain scored the match-winning second goal in 57 seconds as the No. 7-ranked Horned Frogs downed BYU, 2-1 in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Caroline Kelly added a goal for TCU, which fell behind on MacKenzee Vance’s goal in the first half before rallying to net a pair in the 40th and 41st minute.
The Cougars (9-6-3) will wait until Monday, Nov. 18 to learn their NCAA Tournament fate, holders of the No. 24-rated RPI in Division I and a five-match unbeaten streak before Wednesday’s semifinal to a team rated No. 13 in the metric.
California Baptist 3, Utah Valley 2
At Abilene, Texas, Jayden Ramirez had a goal and an assist, and Kaylee Hauck scored the match-winner with less than three minutes remaining as the Lancers rallied with three unanswered goals to stun the top-seeded Wolverines, 3-2 in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
Ruby Hladek gave the Wolverines the early lead when the BYU transfer ripped a shot through the laces in the 14th minute for the 1-0 advantage.
Quincy Bonds doubled the advantage in the 36th minute as Utah Valley was putting itself on cruise control.
But Ramirez pulled one back for the Lancers after halftime, finishing a set-up ball from Mia Scranton in the 67th minute.
Ava Westlund tied the match in the 78th minute, and Hauck finished the job in the 87th minute on an assist from Ramirez to lift the fourth-seeded Lancers into Saturday’s WAC Tournament championship match and send the Wolverines home early for the second year in a row.
The loss puts UVU’s NCAA Tournament hopes on shaky ground. The back-to-back-to-back WAC regular-season champions have gone out in the semifinals of the conference tournament, and missed the national tournament a year ago because of it.
This year, the Wolverines boast a 12-5-2 record, including an 8-2-2 road mark — but the No. 51 rating in the RPI before having their 10-match unbeaten streak snapped by the Lancers.