PROVO — There were no playoff butterflies or postseason jitters when BYU women’s soccer gathered to watch Monday afternoon’s NCAA Tournament selection show and bracket unveiling.
Thanks to a remarkable run in north and central Texas last week, the Cougars already had their ticket punch.
The Cougars drew the No. 5 seed and will host in-state rival Utah State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner will face either fourth-seeded UCLA (11-5-3) or Pepperdine (11-6-2) in the second round.
Dates and times of the opening round will be announced at a later date.
BYU was one of seven teams from the Big 12 to make the field of 64, including regular-season champion and second-seeded TCU (15-2-2), third-seeded Kansas (14-5-3), fifth-seeded Baylor (12-4-4), sixth-seeded Texas Tech (13-2-4), seventh-seeded West Virginia (13-3-3) and seventh-seeded UCF (11-3-5).
Utah State punched its ticket to a fifth NCAA Tournament in program history Saturday night, holding off Mountain West regular-season champion Boise State on penalty kicks to clinch a third consecutive Mountain West Tournament title.
The Aggies (10-6-6) weren’t sweating for a bid, either, thanks to goalkeeper Taylor Rath, the graduate senior by way of Pepperdine who replaced junior Allee Grashoff after a 2-2 draw in 110 minutes of regulation and extra time.
Rath made two saves in the shootout to help Utah State to its fifth conference tournament title overall and a 7-1-2 mark in Mountain West Tournament play under head coach Manny Martins.
Monday was simply about matchups after Ellie Walbruch continued her heat, scoring five goals in three postseason matches, including the match-winner in a 1-0 win over Kansas, to clinch BYU’s first Big 12 soccer tournament title in three seasons in the league.
Chelsea Peterson, the former University of Utah starter who went from semi-retired and studying for an American Heritage exam on campus this summer to backup goalkeeper and starter for three consecutive game, made eight saves in the final to collect her second consecutive shutout.
BYU could’ve relied on its metrics, including a top-30 RPI; nonconference wins over Minnesota, UCLA and Auburn; and a gritty top-eight finish in the Big 12 to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the 26th time in legendary coach Jennifer Rockwood’s three-decade career as the only Division I head coach in program history.
Instead, they relied on a collection of talent coming together to get hot at the right time and put destiny back in the Cougars’ control.
Beyond Walbrach, who has a team-high 16 goals on the year, five other BYU players earned All-Big 12 honors. Lucy Kesler joined Walbrach on the conference’s first team, defenders Izzi Stratton and Presley Freeman were selected to the second team, and Mia Goettsche and Mia Lopez each earned Big 12 All-Freshman awards, as well.
Add in leadership like Mackenzee Vance, the lone senior on the roster, and seasoned junior center back Avery Frischknecht, and it added up to a weeklong November run the likes of which has never been seen — the first No. 8 seed to win a Big 12 tournament title in the league’s history after stunning top-seeded TCU in the opening round.
Now they’ll host a tournament game on South Field for the program with nine third-round appearances, five quarterfinals, and two College Cup semifinals, including the 2021 national championship match for the first time in program history.
Not bad for a team cut deeply by roster adjustments due to the House v. NCAA settlement, and the loss of last year’s leading scorer, Allie Fryer, to an injury before the season began.
“Having a home game is huge for us,” Walbruch told BYUtv on Monday morning. “We’re really excited to be back at home … to show the crowd what we do on South Field.”
Wolverines are back in the tourney, too
Utah Valley will travel to third-seeded Colorado for the first round of the Wolverines’ fifth NCAA Tournament berth and first in three years.
The three-time reigning WAC regular-season champion Wolverines (14-4-3) dropped the final autobid from the Western Athletic Conference, falling on penalty kicks to California Baptist after a 2-2 draw Saturday night at UCCU Stadium in Orem.
That left Utah Valley’s tournament hopes — at least briefly — in doubt, despite a resume that included the No. 37 RPI in the country and 14 wins that included nonconference victories over Utah, LSU and Gonzaga in addition to a 9-0-1 mark in WAC play.
“At the end of the day, we went 1-0-1 in the tournament and we don’t get the automatic bid,” Utah Valley coach Chris Lemay said after Saturday’s WAC championship. “Congratulations to Cal Baptist, they beat us on penalty kicks, and unfortunately sometimes that’s the way that it ends.
“There are some things we’ll learn from this game that we can build upon and get better because of. We’re going to prepare like our name is going to be called on Monday, and be ready to go next weekend.”
On Monday, the Wolverines’ preparation paid off, giving the WAC two tournament berths before the conference folds next summer.
The NCAA Division I College Cup will be played Dec. 5-8 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City.
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