BYU women’s soccer finally earns elusive Big 12 home win
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- BYU’s Allie Fryer celebrates scoring a goal against Kansas State in a Big 12 women’s soccer match on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
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- BYU’s Olivia Wade-Katoa strikes the ball during a Big 12 women’s college soccer match against Kansas State on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
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- BYU’s Izzi Stratton, left, heads for the ball with Kansas State’s Riley Baker in pursuit during a Big 12 women’s soccer match at South Field on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
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- The BYU women’s soccer team celebrates a goal scored by Allie Fryer during a Big 12 match against Kansas State on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
It took 30 shots and some fancy footwork from Allie Fryer, but the No. 7 BYU women’s soccer team finally broke through against Kansas State on Monday.
The Wildcats — just 3-8-3 overall and 1-4-1 in Big 12 play — opted to pack in their stingy defense against the Cougars and the strategy worked well. BYU dominated the run of play and but couldn’t get the ball past Kansas State or its goalkeeper, Murphy Sheaff, for 75 minutes.
On the Cougars 30th shot of the match, Fryer scored off a pass from Brecken Mozingo and Kendall Peterson added a second goal six minutes later for a 2-0 victory, BYU’s first Big 12 win at home after three ties.
“Yeah, it’s about time,” Cougar coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
The BYU faithful — 4,881 strong at South Field for the early 5 p.m. kickoff — definitely felt that same strong sense of relief after watching the Cougars draw with TCU, Cincinnati and Texas Tech in the past three home matches.
“It’s huge,” Peterson said. “We’ve really been focusing on that since our last game. It’s really been frustrating but this is a good reset for us and we’re ready to just keep rolling.”
BYU (11-1-3 overall, 4-0-3 Big 12) took ten shots to Kansas State’s none in the first fifteen minutes, including a blast from Fryer that went wide. The Wildcats’ first shot didn’t come until the 27th minute. The Cougars finished the half with a 23-2 advantage in shots (seven on frame) and took nine corner kicks but the scoreboard still read goose eggs for both sides.
The second half was more of the same as BYU continued to control the ball, probing and attacking the Kansas State defense to no avail.
The build-up for the breakthrough goal started with Camryn Jorgensen, who took the ball in the defensive third and raced into the offensive end. She drew defenders to her before sending a pass out side to Mozingo on the wing. Mozingo’s cross threaded through the box to Fryer, who was covered well but managed to spin and direct the ball into the goal with her back heel.
“I was surprised,” Fryer said. “I just wanted to get a touch on it. And then after I was laughing with Ellie Walbruch because we thought it was funny that it went in. We couldn’t believe that it happened but it was awesome that Brecken dribbled to the end line and got a nice cross off. I mean, the harder I try the less the ball goes in sometimes, so as long as I’m there and having a good time, I think that’s when the goals start to go in.”
Peterson, who came into the match with a team-leading nine assists, scored the clincher in the 83rd minute. The Cougars flipped the field with some nice passing and Peterson drilled a shot into the net from about 25 yards.
“Petey gets shots and crosses off so effortlessly it’s mind blowing,” Rockwood said. “When she gets a shot on frame it typically goes in.”
BYU finished with a 37-6 advantage in shots, 14 of those shots on goal. The Cougars also had 13 corner kicks (to zero for Kansas State) and would have scored more but for a heroic effort from Sheaff, who finished with 12 saves.
“In the first half we were starting to settle for outside-of-the-box shots,” Rockwood said. “When you’re playing against a packed in defense, it’s hard. You just have to continue to play faster, play quicker and get balls behind a lot sooner and not take too long to get in. I thought Ellie Walbruch was a big difference maker in this game tonight. She came in and really made things happen and helped us put things away.”
After playing three matches in the past week, BYU doesn’t get much rest before heading to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State on Thursday.
