TOURNEY TIME: BYU, SLCC women record upsets to advance in postseason
TOURNEY TIME: BYU, SLCC women record upsets to advance in postseason
The 14th-ranked BYU women's soccer team upset No. 6 Stanford on penalty kicks for a Round of 16 entry, while the Bruins topped No. 1 Tyler for their second championship berth in three years.
This is the time of day is when you catch up on the college soccer postseason tournaments, and we’ve got good news, not just for one team from Utah but two.
First, the Division I program.
No. 14 BYU women's soccer team upset No. 6 Stanford on penalty kicks to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16 for the second-straight year Thursday afternoon at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Cougars (11-2-7) picked up a result in their 12th-straight match via shootout after a 1-1 finish in regulation. After Olivia Wade’s first-half goal, the junior from Kaysville also converted a penalty kick after BYU survived Stanford’s 33 shots, including 10 shots on frame.
Brecken Mozingo, Olivia Smith and Laveni Vaka also converted from the spot before Ellie Maughan sealed it with her penalty kick to finish off a perfect 5-for-5 round of kicks in the shootout. Freshman goalkeeper Taygan Sill, who entered the match for the shootout, made one save to make the result stand up, 5-4.
A year after advancing to the national championship for the first time and sending Mikayla Colohan (Orlando Pride) and Cameron Tucker (Gotham FC) to the NWSL, the Cougars are back in the Round of 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
And they’ll play it on the first field they stepped up to open the 2022 campaign.
“What a beautiful place to play and what a fantastic game,” said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood, whose team opened the season with a 2-0 exhibition loss in Chapel Hill to North Carolina. “It was a bit of a nail-biter as both teams saw several opportunities to get ahead in the game, and we did what we needed to do to hold on. Super proud of the girls going out big in PKs, because that is a lot of pressure. Glad they stepped out there and got the job done today.”
Stanford took a five-match winning streak against BYU into the eighth all-time meeting between the two sides. But BYU took the lead through Wade’s goal in the fourth minute, gave it back via Jasmine Aikey’s strike, and held off a barrage of goal-scoring opportunities through the second half and two extra-time periods.
That set up the shootout, which Maughan and Sill clinched with a pair of remarkable plays to set up Saturday’s round of 16 matchup at 9:30 p.m. MT at Dorrance Field. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and BYU Radio.
NJCAA Tournament
Women’s soccer: Salt Lake 0-0 Tyler 0 (Salt Lake 4-3 on penalties)
After a scoreless regulation and extra time, the 10th-ranked Bruins converted four of five penalties to upset top-ranked Tyler Junior College, 4-3 and advance to Saturday’s national championship match in Evans, Georgia.
Jordan Roe, Maddie Snyder, Theresa Wiesiolek and Kenna Sparks each scored in the shootout for the Bruins, and Wiesiolek also made two saves in goal to finish the job.
"Tyler is always a very difficult team to play against, but so are we," SLCC coach Cassie Ulrich said. "We were incredibly organized defensively and created some really fantastic opportunities."
The Bruins (13-3-3) advanced to face No. 9 Iowa Western in the championship match, the second title match in program history.
The first came during the pandemic-impacted spring 2021 season, when Salt Lake fell to Tyler 18 months ago.
With that match avenged, the Bruins have a chance to finish the job and improve on their 8-2 NJCAA tournament record over the past three seasons.
"I think it's the heart of this team that's carrying us right now," said Ulrich, who is assisted by former Utah Royals FC interim head coach Amy Lepeilbet and former BYU star Makaylie Moore on the bench. "We are stoked to be headed to the final."
The match will stream live on the NJCAA Network.
Men’s soccer: Arizona Western 2, Salt Lake 1
The Salt Lake Community College men’s team saw its season end the semifinals of the NJCAA national tournament Saturday via 2-1 loss to No. 7 Arizona Western in Melbourne, Florida.
After trailing 1-0 at halftime, Ty Sanchez equalized for Salt Lake in the 50th minute. But the Matadors scored a few minutes later and held the Bruins to just three shots to clinch the win.
The Bruins finish the season at 14-2-1.