On a cold night in Provo, the No. 1-seed BYU women’s soccer team finally cracked the code to Utah State.
The Cougars’ prizes? A victory over the Aggies and a berth into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
BYU scored a goal in each half to defeat Utah State 2-0 Friday at South Field. The win was the Cougars’ first over the Aggies in their last four matches and avenged a 1-0 loss in Logan two months ago.
“We felt it was a tough draw to play a team like Utah State … as a No. 1 seed,” said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. “They gave us a good run at it. Proud of these girls, proud of our seniors, proud of this team to come out the way they did and really control most of the game.”
Kendell Petersen gave the Cougars an early lead with a precision goal in the 10th minute after taking a pass 30 yards out to the left of goal and muscling past an Aggie defender.
Utah State goalkeeper Diera Walton had barely a ball’s width between her and the goalpost, but that’s right where Petersen sent a low, precision laser, sneaking it under Walton and into the net.
The goal was Petersen’s second of the season and fourth of her career.
“I just saw the space, so I took my touch wide,” Petersen said. “Jenn has been telling me I need to keep my shots low, so I tried to keep it low. Looks like she knows what she’s talking about.
“I think it gave us a good chance to calm down once we had that first goal. We were able to keep the ball, stay relaxed and not get frantic.”
Boasting the top offense in the country, the Cougars outshot USU 28-7 and had a 12-1 edge on corner kicks.
BYU freshman goalkeeper Lynette Hernaez made three saves in the shutout.
In the opposite goal for Utah State, Walton, a fifth-year senior and All-Mountain West Conference selection, played superbly with a number of diving saves from close range to give Utah State a chance.
“Diera is a trooper,” Utah State coach Manny Martins said. “The two times we’ve come down here with her, two years ago and today, she was the best player on the field.
“Not to take any credit away from our opposition’s players, but she was incredible today. If it isn’t for her, today the game gets away from us a little sooner. She’s forever going to be a legend up on our campus.”
However, the Cougars effectively put the game away with their second goal in the 73rd minute when senior Olivia Wade-Katoa found herself all alone at the top of the box after a pass from Ellie Boren and sent a top-shelf rocket under the crossbar for her 11th goal of the year.
“I think we definitely came into this game with a chip on our shoulder knowing that they beat us in the regular season,” Wade-Katoa said.
“That’s something we’ve been working on all week long, just really getting up for this game and knowing what they were going to probably show us.”
BYU has now won its last five first round NCAA Tournament games and improves to 17-2-3 on the year. As the No. 1 seed, the Cougars will host their second-round game against No. 8-seed USC next Thursday at 7 p.m. MST at South Field.
With the loss, Utah State finishes the year at 14-8-1, finishing second at 9-2 in the Mountain West regular season but claiming the first ever MW Tournament title in program history.