BYU Soccer Completes First Undefeated Season In Program History
Nov 10, 2019, 12:08 AM | Updated: 12:09 am
Photo Courtesy of BYU Photo
PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s soccer head coach Jennifer Rockwood has been the head coach of the Cougars since the beginning of the program in 1995. Never until Saturday night had one of her teams completed an entire regular season undefeated. Now it has happened.
WCC CHAMPIONS. NCAA BID. NATIONAL RANKING. FIRST UNDEFEATED SEASON IN PROGRAM HISTORY. AND ONE AMAZING SEASON👏👏👏
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀#BYUwSOC #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/9BBAIoA1BP— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 10, 2019
No. 4 ranked BYU made a statement on Saturday night in a dominating 8-1 victory over Loyola Marymount to secure an outright West Coast Conference title and their first undefeated regular season.
”I’m really proud of the team and how they’ve battled all season to prepare for this moment,” Jennifer Rockwood said. “We’re now looking to what lies ahead with the NCAA Tournament. This senior class has had a huge impact on this program. They’re one of the main reasons why the team has been successful both on and off the field. They bring maturity, leadership, fun and have created a culture for the team.”
Jen THE 🐐 Rockwood pic.twitter.com/wbtNXdN81E
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 10, 2019
At 18-0-1, the Cougars head into Selection Monday as one of potentially two programs to finish the 2019 season undefeated. The other is No. 1 ranked Virginia who takes on North Carolina Sunday in the ACC Soccer Championship.
BYU jumped on LMU early getting out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the match. Elise Flake was the first to score and she finished the regular season with 18 goals on the year.
LMU scored their lone goal in the seventh minute to cut the deficit to 2-1, then BYU scored another three goals before the halftime break. Mikayla Colohan, Lizzy Braby, and Ashton Brockbank added another three goals in the second period to give BYU the 8-1 victory.
RPI Dropped After Dominating Win
Despite being in the top-five of major polls in women’s soccer, the most important ranking, the RPI had BYU ranked 10th entering Saturday night’s match. After the dominating 8-1 win over the Lions, it didn’t help the Cougars RPI cause. BYU dropped to 13th in the RPI after the victory.
RPI Update
BYU 10 -> 13
Well, Loyola Marymount didn't do BYU's RPI any favors.
The Cougars do wrap up the WCC title and the auto bid to the NCAA Tournament. 20th bid, 2nd straight.
— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) November 10, 2019
Now the Cougars will wait for their seeding and matchup in the NCAA Tournament on Monday. The NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament Selection Show will be streamed on NCAA.com at 2:30 p.m. (MST).
With an undefeated regular season, there will be talk about BYU potentially having a case to host a regional at South Field. The last time that happened was in 2012 where the Cougars advanced to the Elite 8 before falling to the North Carolina Tar Heels.
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.
