There are many years and a lot of games between BYU’s season-opening defeat at Colorado College on Sept. 2, 1995, and Wednesday’s opener at No. 9 UCLA.
In between, the only head coach in program history — Jen Rockwood — has won an eye-popping 475 games, including three of the last four against the highly acclaimed Bruins.
“They (UCLA) have won national championships. They are consistently in the Elite Eight and in the College Cup. They always have one of the top national recruiting classes in the country,” Rockwood told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “There’s no better way than to start it off and see where you are.”
No. 19 BYU beat UCLA 1-0 last August at South Field and again in November during a 4-2 penalty kick shootout to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, the No. 7 Cougars upset No. 1 UCLA 3-1 at South Field.
BYU senior Ellie Walbruch scored a goal in all three victories and will lead a veteran group into Los Angeles on Wednesday night (7 p.m. PST, Big10+).
“We’ve been young for a couple of years,” Rockwood said. “We are spread even again and finally get some great experience back.”
Rockwood’s entire starting lineup on Wednesday will feature players who contributed to last year’s Big 12 championship run and three-game NCAA Tournament spree.
“That was a great ride for us the last three weeks of the season,” she said. “The Big 12 was as good as it’s ever been.”
Rockwood announced her retirement in June, effective at the end of the season. She is to BYU’s soccer program what the late LaVell Edwards was and still is to Cougar football. Her final act opens with four Big Ten opponents — at UCLA, at Wisconsin (Aug. 19) and home against USC (Aug. 22) and Minnesota (Aug. 27).
“The thing that I really hope to do this year is enjoy it more than I ever have,” Rockwood said. “It’s always so stressful. Sometimes those wins aren’t enjoyable because it’s just a relief that you won and the losses are pretty tough because we expect to win every time we step on the field. I hope this year I can just really enjoy (the) opportunity that I have and live in the moment day by day.”
Rockwood’s next moment is Wednesday, 32 years after her first moment at Colorado College. Back then, nobody knew about her Cougars. Today, everybody does, especially UCLA.
“Cougar Nation usually shows up for us big time in Southern California,” Rockwood said. “So, we hope to have a great fan base there and challenge the very best. Why not?”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.