BYU Soccer Blanks NC State 3-0, Advances To Elite Eight

PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s soccer is advancing to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars remain undefeated after they defeated the NC State Wolfpack 3-0 at South Field on Saturday night.

YOUR COUGS ARE THE FIRST TEAM ADVANCING TO THE ELITE EIGHT!#BYUwSOC #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/3aSMFaYsZt

— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 24, 2019

BYU (21-0-1) continues to be one of the most dominant teams in women’s soccer this season. But because BYU hails from the West Coast Conference, the Cougars are still battling to earn respect from those who follow college soccer around the country.

On Saturday night, BYU defeated another ACC team to show the doubters that this team is for real.

BYU asserted their dominance early in the match as Cameron Tucker got the scoring started in the 11th minute off an assist from Mikayla Colohan. That was all the scoring BYU needed to secure the win.

BYU PROPELS PAST NC STATE 🏹

The No. 2-seeded Cougars are the first team to advance to the quarterfinals following a 3-0 win over the Wolfpack!#NCAASoccer | @byusoccer_w pic.twitter.com/2NmhVbpcJI

— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) November 24, 2019

The Cougars’ backline defense was great once again shutting out an NC State team that had only been shut out five times this season. Three of those five shutouts were against Top-4 teams in Virginia and North Carolina. Like the Hoos and Tar Heels, BYU showed they are on par with the elite of the sport by shutting down the Wolfpack attack.

BYU’s Josie Guinn scored the second goal of the night in the 33rd minute of the first half. The scoring ended early in the second half as Cameron Tucker scored her second goal in the 48th minute to put BYU up 3-0 and the Cougars rolled from there.

With the win, BYU advances to its first Elite Eight appearance since 2012 and the third in school history. The other appearance came in 2003.

BYU will face the winner of tomorrow’s Stanford-Penn State game next week. Stanford is the No. 1-seed in the region. If the Cardinal win, BYU will travel to Palo Alto to face the Cardinal. If Penn State wins, the Cougars will host the Nittany Lions at South Field for a chance to go to the College Cup. Penn State-Stanford kicks off tomorrow at 2 p.m. (MT).

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.