Thursday night’s Big 12 Conference regular season women’s soccer finale was the end of the season for the Utah Utes but it felt like a homecoming for BYU’s Chelsea Peterson.
Peterson, a 24 year-old from Orem whose college career started with Utes, entered the game midway through the first half and helped turn away several shots as the Cougars held on for a 2-0 win and advanced to the Big 12 postseason tournament next week in Dallas and Waco, Texas.
Mia Lopez and Mackenzee Vance got BYU off to a fast start with first-half goals and the Cougars improved their record to 9-6-3 overall and 4-5-2 in league.
The win secured eighth place in the league standings, which means BYU will likely face top-seeded TCU Monday at 1 p.m. (MST) on the Horned Frogs’ home field.
Utah fell to 7-10-3 overall and 2-7-2 in league, which put it in 13th place in the 16-team league. Scoring was the Utes’ problem this season, though, and they were shut out for the fourth straight time Thursday.
Despite outshooting BYU 14-7 in the second half, Utah also lost to its rival for the ninth time in the last 10 tries.
“It was our defensive energy. That’s what we needed,” said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood. “We’ve given up a lot of early goals and we got off to a really strong start.
To get that first goal is always big. This is a super battle and it’s always back-and-forth. The second half wasn’t pretty. We bent but we didn’t break.”
Peterson played the primary role. Taking over for Paiton Collins, who suffered a leg injury after only 17 minutes, Peterson sprinted onto the field that used to be so familiar and enjoyed the irony of how her college career has progressed.
“I don’t think a lot anymore (on the field),” she said. “It was funny. Coming in, I was called to punt immediately and my legs were frozen. I went in at halftime and did a lot of running (to get warm). It was fun.”
Peterson won a state title with Orem in 2018 and then and played three seasons as Utah’s goalkeeper before going on a church mission. When she returned, she looked into the transfer portal but eventually decided to attend BYU — but only as a student.
However, Rockwood said she lost one of her keepers three days before the season (starter Lynette Hernaez) and knew Peterson was on campus.
Rockwood and assistant coach Steve Magleby found Peterson’s telephone number and, while Peterson had played in only one game previously, she stopped every Utah shot she faced to keep BYU’s season — and her soccer career — going.
“Chelsea has had quite a journey,” Rockwood said. “She has worked really hard all year and has performed well. She made some big saves and it means a lot.”