BYU beats UCF to advance to Big 12 women’s soccer championship

BYU, ranked No. 6 nationally, defeated UCF 4-1 in the Big 12 women’s soccer tournament semifinals at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas on Wednesday night.

BYU’s Olivia Wade-Katoa opened scoring on a shot to the corner of the net on a cross from Olivia Smith-Griffitts in the 28th minute of play.

The Cougars scored three more goals in a 10-minute span late in the first half to pull away from the Knights. It was Wade-Katoa again in the 34th minute to start the Cougar scoring flurry, dribbling through traffic in the box before slotting it to the left scoring to put BYU up 2-0.

Five minutes later, Brecken Mozingo raced past UCF players and booted a ball in traffic for the Cougars’ third goal of the night. In the 44th minute, Ellie Walbruch headed home a Rachel McCarthy cross and BYU led 4-0 at halftime.

UCF’s lone goal came via a penalty kick in the 79th minute.

“It means a lot to make it to the championship match our first year in the tournament,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said in a press release. “It says a lot about these girls and our seniors leading this group. We played a phenomenal first half and got to get a lot of our younger girls into the game in the second half, so it was an overall great performance tonight.”

The Cougars had eight shots on goal, compared to UCF’s seven. BYU goalkeepers Lynette Hernaez and Savanna Mason combined to save six Knights shots.

BYU faces Texas, which defeated No. 1 seed Texas Tech 1-0, in the Big 12 championship match on Saturday at 6 p.m. MDT, which will be televised on ESPN+. The Cougars’ women’s soccer team is vying to win the school’s second Big 12 championship trophy after BYU’s women’s cross country team won the Cougars’ first Big 12 title.