PROVO, Utah – BYU women’s soccer concluded the 2024 season with 1-0 loss to Santa Clara in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
BYU outshot Santa Clara 15-13 on the night, with four shots being on frame to the Broncos’ three. Juniors Allie Fryer and Mackenzee Vance led the Cougars in shots contributing six and four respectively.
The Cougars end a memorable season, highlighted by a 9-7-5 overall record and 6-2-3 in conference play, finishing fourth in the Big 12 conference. The program achieved its 25th NCAA berth in program history, despite losing a majority of its starting roster from last season.
“First of all, congratulations to Santa Clara,” said head coach Jennifer Rockwood. “I have a ton of respect for Jerry Smith and what he’s been able to do in his career and I really look up to him and how he coaches. Obviously it’s a very tough loss for us on South Field tonight. I felt that it wasn’t our best overall performance, but I felt that we still did enough to probably at least put one in the back of the net. It’s the youngest team we’ve ever had here at BYU, and for these girls to still finish fourth in the Big 12, ranked in one of the polls and host an NCAA Tournament game, is amazing and I’m really proud of our team.”
First Half
Both sides fought for possession in the opening minutes of the match. Vance and Fryer each saw shots in the first 12 minutes of play with Fryer’s on-target shot being blocked by the Broncos’ keeper.
Addie Gardner gave the Cougars another offensive surge in the 26th minute when she capitalized on a pass from freshman Mika Krommenhoek which was blocked. Krommenhoek held the pressure moments later with a shot of her own that was off target.
Fryer tallied BYU’s sixth shot of the night which was saved to keep the match scoreless through 34 minutes of play. Santa Clara responded with a shot to the Cougars’ net which was saved by a diving tip from Lynette Hernaez. The Broncos continued the pressure with a shot off the crossbar for the last push in the first half.
Despite the 0-0 draw going into halftime, the Broncos were outshooting the Cougars 11-7. Both goalkeepers tallied two saves through the first 45 minutes on the pitch.
Second Half
The teams began the second half in similar fashion to the first half, with both sides sharing possession of the ball. The Cougars pushed through with back-to-back shots from Erin Bailey and Fryer which both fell short.
Santa Clara broke the stalemate on a shot from the top of the box to the center of the Cougars’ net to move up 1-0 in the 70th minute.
BYU responded with pressure getting Fryer back-to-back looks. A corner kick from Sierra Pennock found Vance inside the box with a shot which was blocked. That led to a second corner on the next possession which also gave Vance a look at the goal but fell off target.
A yellow card was assessed to a Bronco in the 81st minute at the top of the Santa Clara box. Lucy Kesler attempted a shot on the free kick for BYU, but it was saved by the Santa Clara keeper.
A shot by Fryer in the 89th minute that crossed the goal line was called offside to give Santa Clara a free kick, which was cleared deep into BYU's defensive half.
The Cougars fought the remaining minutes posting eight shots in the second half, but fell shy of a goal to relinquish the contest to the Broncos 1-0.