BYU Women’s Soccer Rolls Through Alabama, Advances To Sweet 16
Nov 18, 2021, 4:37 PM | Updated: 4:44 pm
BYU Women's Soccer advances to the 2021 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. (Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
(Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s soccer continues to showcase the nation’s number one scoring offense in the 2021 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament. Just five days after blasting New Mexico 6-0, BYU’s explosive offense didn’t slow down against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the NCAA Second Round.
BYU defeated Alabama 4-1 in Charlottesville, Virginia, led by midfielder Mikayla Colohan who recorded a hat trick in the win.
Onto the next!!
LETS GO pic.twitter.com/msg2d4J7xb— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 18, 2021
The scoring got started by BYU’s senior leader Cameron Tucker as she blasted a goal in the 4th minute off her right foot after an assist from Colohan.
From there, it was the Colohan show. The 5-foot-8 senior drew a foul then nailed a penalty kick in the 20th minute. But it didn’t stop there for Colohan and BYU, who remained on the attack. Moments before the half in the 44th minute, Colohan gave BYU a commanding 3-0 lead off an assist from Addie Garnder.
Colohan’s second goal of the match was the 50th of her storied BYU career. She becomes only the fourth player in BYU women’s soccer history to reach 50 goals in a career.
“When your two biggest goal scorers show up and show up big, great things are going to happen,” said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood in the BYU Sports Network postgame. “Cam [Tucker] and Kayla [Colohan], what a night for Kayla, put on a show, she was all over the place.”
In the second half, Alabama, who entered the match at 11-9-1 on the season, didn’t roll over against high-flying BYU. The Crimson Tide had BYU on their heels a little bit and they got on the scoreboard in the 65th minute on a goal from Felicia Knox.
HAT TRICK 🤠🤠🤠 pic.twitter.com/S5qRNri73n
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 18, 2021
But then Colohan rose to the occasion again in the 74th minute to complete her three-goal day. Her goal put the game entirely out of reach, sealing a 4-1 victory for BYU over the Crimson Tide.
The win sends BYU to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. This will be BYU’s seventh trip to the Sweet 16 in 22 NCAA Tournament appearances all-time, dating back to 1997.
“Really excited, especially for our seniors,” said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood in the radio postgame. “They’ve done such a great job, and you know, they got the COVID year and came back after we didn’t get a full season last year. We said after the game there’s not a better place we’d want to be right now for an opportunity to potentially, you know, face the team that knocked us out last season. But you know, Milwaukee’s had a great season. They’ve scored a lot of goals. So we’ll see who we play, but it doesn’t matter who. We are really looking forward to Saturday night’s match.”
Next Up for BYU Women’s Soccer
BYU will now await the winner of No. 1 Virginia versus Milwaukee. The Cougars will face the winner of that match on Saturday in Charlottesville. BYU lost to Virginia in last season’s spring NCAA Tournament in the second round.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
