PROVO, Utah — No. 13 BYU women’s soccer (12-3-3, 8-1-2 Big 12) defeated Arizona State 1-0 to claim its first-ever Big 12 regular-season title Thursday night at South Field.
The win came in the final regular-season match of head coach Jennifer Rockwood’s career.
Senior Bella Woods notched her third goal of the season on a free kick from outside the 18-yard box. All three of her goals this season have come on set pieces.
“It's been an amazing journey this year,” Rockwood said. “This is such a special group of girls, to accomplish what they've accomplished. I couldn’t be more proud of them. Tonight was a really tough match. We couldn't score early on, and we didn’t, but we gutted it out. Then Bella came through with another unbelievable game winner.”
Before the match, Rockwood was recognized for her 32 seasons at the helm as the only head coach in BYU women’s soccer history, earning more than 480 career wins. She has also won a conference title in all four conferences in which BYU women’s soccer has competed.
BYU Athletics announced the creation of a scholarship fund to honor Rockwood’s legacy and support BYU women’s soccer student-athletes for years to come.
The Cougars also honored seniors Woods, Chelsea Peterson, Ella Rustand-Ford, Avery Frischknecht, Emma Neff, Ellie Walbruch and Mattyn Summers-Oviatt as part of BYU’s senior night.
First Half
Arizona State started the match aggressively, pushing down the field and maintaining possession from the opening kick.
BYU recorded its first shot of the match in the fourth minute, but Mika Krommenhoek’s attempt from the top of the box missed wide left. The Cougars intercepted an errant pass and followed with another shot in the fifth minute, narrowly missing the right post.
BYU maintained offensive pressure, notching three more shots in just over two minutes, but Arizona State’s Kennedy Zorn made several saves. The ball remained on the Sun Devils’ side of the field for much of the first 20 minutes.
A dangerous cross into BYU’s box nearly created Arizona State’s first scoring opportunity, but Peterson beat a closing Sun Devil to the ball to thwart the attack.
Over the next five minutes, both teams made offensive pushes down the field to no avail, with Zorn making another save to stop the Cougars in the 25th minute.
Arizona State took its first shot in the 33rd minute, but Peterson comfortably made the save. She followed with another save in the 40th minute.
Despite outshooting the Sun Devils 12-2 and earning three corner kicks to Arizona State’s none, BYU entered the break tied 0-0.
Second Half
Second-half play proved more physical as both teams increased their intensity. Arizona State committed 13 fouls and received three yellow cards over the course of the match, while BYU committed eight fouls of its own.
BYU opened the second half with a shot in the 48th minute, but it deflected off an Arizona State defender.
The Sun Devils earned their first corner kick of the match in the 49th minute, but the Cougars cleared it with ease.
BYU nearly took the lead on the counterattack. After moving the ball down the field, Presley Freeman took a shot inside the box in the 51st minute, but an Arizona State defender headed it away just before it crossed the goal line.
The Sun Devils notched back-to-back shots in the 54th and 56th minutes, with both attempts narrowly missing the goal.
After an Arizona State player received a yellow card, BYU capitalized on the ensuing free kick to take a 1-0 lead. Woods fired a shot from 25 yards out in the 68th minute, sending the ball off the left post, past Zorn and into the back of the net.
In the 70th minute, BYU goalkeeper Paiton Collins made a diving save and deflected the ball out of the box to prevent an Arizona State equalizer.
The Cougars nearly took a 2-0 lead after Mia Goettsche tapped in a cross in the 73rd minute, but an offside call negated the goal.
The Sun Devils failed to capitalize on several runs deep into BYU territory over the next 10 minutes as the Cougars cleared multiple crosses into the box.
BYU added one more shot in the 89th minute before closing out the match with a defensive stand to secure the 1-0 win.
The Cougars outshot the Sun Devils 21-7, while Peterson and Collins combined for three saves.
Up Next
The Cougars will travel to Mansfield, Texas, to compete in the Big 12 Soccer Tournament as the No. 1 seed beginning Monday, Nov. 9, at Texas Health Mansfield Stadium. BYU will take on West Virginia in the first round of the tournament at 1 p.m. MT with streaming on ESPN+.