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The BYU women's soccer team celebrates a goal scored by Olivia Wade-Katoa (10) during a first round NCAA Tournament match against Utah State at South Field on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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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.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Olivia Wade-Katoa greets BYU fans before the start of a women's college soccer match against Utah Valley at South Field on Saturday, Sept, 2, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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The BYU women's soccer team, including goalkeeper Cassidy Smith (right), celebrate winning a shootout with Santa Clara in the NCAA semifinals on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (BYU Courtesy Photo)

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BYU players wave to the fans after the NCAA finals match against Florida State at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021.

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BYU women's soccer players prepare to take the field before the College Cup semifinal match against Santa Clara at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara, Cali., on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.(Courtesy BYU Photos)

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When the BYU women’s soccer team reached the 2021 College Cup final, its roster had 22 of its 30 listed players as being from the state of Utah (11 from Utah Valley).

Two years later, the Cougars are back in semifinals of the College Cup with many of the same players — and still have 22 Utahns on the roster (14 from Utah Valley).

“It’s been amazing,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said in a teleconference earlier this week. “We actually get that comment quite a bit, people surprised by the talented, talented players from the state of Utah that we have.

“I think looking back at 2021, one thing that I will always remember is that those introductions of Florida State and BYU. Florida State had a very international roster but as they were introducing our team, nine of our 11 starters were Utah kids.”

She noted that the connection with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns BYU, means that there is a strong pool of talent in Utah.

“We obviously have a lot of girls that play here locally that are very good and are a good fit into our program,” Rockwood said. “We’ve actually always relied on it. I would say probably on average we’re 70-to-75% players from Utah.”

Having so many players from the state means Rockwood has been able to see many of her current players develop from early on in their soccer careers.

“We have a chance to get to know them at a very young age,” Rockwood said. “Most of the seniors I’ve known since they were 12 or 13-years-old and then I followed them through their careers in club soccer and summer camps. It’s really special to have that and it creates a desire for some of the best players in the state to want to come here.”

BYU senior midfielder Jamie Shepherd understands what Rockwood is talking about, having played in Utah County at American Fork High before becoming a Cougar.

“Either I played with or against most of the girls on the team,” Shepherd said. “It’s a super cool feeling to be out there on the field together and you just build that chemistry. There’s 11 of us seniors. Over those five years, I think you just grow and build together through those highs and those lows. Hopefully it’s all kind of coming together now.”

Although BYU has seen some amazing successes, there were some tough times too. Rockwood recalled evaluating things in 2022 and seeing how good her team could be — but that they hadn’t made it happened.

“Last year we played some great soccer,” Rockwood said. “We created a lot of opportunities but we weren’t finishing them. That was one of the key things we worked on in the summer and in the preseason. I’m sure we spend more time in front of the goal than most teams and it certainly paid off in creating that confidence in front of the goal. You can see that our girls have the confidence to take the shot with the amount of reps and time that they’ve put in. It’s allowed us to score some pretty amazing goals this year.”

Combine the confidence and the team chemistry, and you have the recipe for a Cougar squad that has been one of the best all year.

“I think it’s a huge advantage for this team,” Shepherd said. “Soccer is a team sport and being able to be on the same page and play for each other and with each other is huge. You can see it on the field and I think that’s something that we have this year.”

BYU hopes that will serve them well as they prepare for the biggest challenges of the season, starting with facing No. 2-seed Stanford in the College Cup semifinals on Friday (6:30 p.m. MT, ESPNU).

“Stanford has another very phenomenal team full of a lot of great talent,” Rockwood said. “I think they’re a team that’s going to look a lot like the USC team that we played with lots of talented individuals who play a possession-style soccer. They don’t give up a lot of good looks. They’ve only given up 10 goals on the year which has to be one of the best in the country, for sure.”

She said the BYU offense, which has tallied 79 goals in 2023, will need to be creative and take advantage when openings are there.

“We have so many different ways to attack, so many different players who are capable of scoring,” Rockwood said. “We hope to be a handful for them. I don’t think they’ve played against too many teams that attack as much as we do.

“But then they have a lot of talent in their attack, so we’re going to have to be very disciplined in our team defense and our pressing. It’s going to be a great matchup.”

The biggest goal is still possible for Rockwood, Shepherd and the Cougars, and they are just two wins from the program’s first national championship.

“Having 10 of us or so having been there before, we have lots of experience and we’re hungry,” Shepherd said. “We’re excited to be back and more than just happy to be there. We want to win and do something that is BYU team hasn’t done before.”

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