Huge second half by Mozingo leads BYU women’s soccer into Elite Eight
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- BYU’s Brecken Mozingo (center) celebrates scoring a goal during an NCAA Tournament third round match against Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
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- BYU’s Olivia Wade-Katoa reacts to a goal during an NCAA Tournament third round match against Michigan State at South Field on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
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- BYU’s Allie Fryer (center) tries to get the ball away from Michigan State’s Regan Dalton during an NCAA Tournament third round match at South Field on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
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- The BYU women’s soccer team celebrates a goal during an NCAA Tournament third round match at South Field on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
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- BYU’s Ellie Walbruch (center) celebrates scoring a goal against Michigan State in an NCAA Tournament third round match at South Field on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
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- The BYU crowd reacts during an NCAA Tournament third round match against Michigan State at South Field on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023.
Brecken Mozingo’s clutch penalty kick in the 55th minute of BYU’s third round NCAA Tournament match against Michigan State was impressive.
Mozingo wasn’t done making spectacular plays.
The Cougar senior netted a second goal just five minutes later and also assisted on a third, pushing No. 1 seed BYU to a 3-1 victory at South Field in front of a sellout crowd of 3,695.
“We’ve found lots of different ways to score this season and certainly when Brecken is on the field, there’s always a good chance that you’re going to score a goal,” Cougars coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
No. 5 seed Michigan State (14-5-3) scored the first goal of the game in the 52nd minute. The BYU defense failed to clear after a Spartans corner kick, and the ball settled at the feet of Gabby Mueller. Her slow roller managed to sneak inside of the left post and the visitors took a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars were unfazed.
“I think everyone believed the goal would come, even when they scored on us,” Rockwood said. “Everyone still believed that we would find a way to score.”
BYU, which struggled with Michigan State’s pressure all night, responded quickly and found some offensive pace. A cross from Kendall Peterson was dangerous and the Spartans pulled down Bella Folino in the box, setting up Mozingo for her penalty kick.
“Brecken has ice in her veins how she can just step up so easily and put that ball in the back of the net on a PK,” Rockwood said.
Mozingo’s blast tied the match at 1-1 and it didn’t take her long to give BYU the lead. She dispossessed a Michigan State player to set up the go-ahead goal.
“She took a bigger touch and I’ve been working on this little chip thing a lot,” Mozingo said. “It’s kind of fun to do. But then my eyes were set on the goal and I wanted to score.”
Mozingo attacked quickly, getting the ball to her left foot for a banger of a shot to the upper third of the goal and the Cougars led 2-1.
Mozingo set up BYU’s third goal with a corner kick that seemed to be laser-sighted to sophomore Ellie Walbruch’s forehead directly in front of the Spartans goal.
“It was like right on your head,” Rockwood told Walbruch in the post-game interview. “You’d better not miss.”
Walbruch didn’t miss her header and BYU led 3-1 in the 80th minute, taking the win home with strong defense down the stretch that included a terrific save from freshman goalkeeper Lynette Hernaez.
“Lynette did such a great job in goal for us,” Rockwood said. “She came up with some really big saves. Michigan State was really pushing on some of those free kicks and some of those corner kicks. We bent a little bit but we didn’t break and Lynette came up with a couple of really big saves that kept us in the game.”
BYU (19-2-3) moves on to the Elite Eight and will host that match next Friday at 6 p.m. MT. The Cougars will play one of two familiar foes: Big 12 opponent Texas Tech, which tied BYU in Provo 2-2 on Oct. 5 or national power North Carolina, which eliminated the Cougars 3-2 in the third round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“We are so mentally strong and we know what this team is capable of,” Walbruch said. “We know that we can put one right back in their face and that’s exactly what we did. I think from there the momentum changed and being here on South Field we have our fans with us and that really helps.”
