BYU women’s soccer looks ahead to in-state rivals Utah State and Utah

No. 25 BYU takes on two in-state rivals this week, starting with a trip to Utah State Thursday and Utah coming to Provo on Saturday.

The Cougars look to bounce back after losing 4-2 against Utah Valley last week and dropping from No. 13 to No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches poll.

“They know they’ve got to get better, so they were engaged, they were communicating, the energy level was high and we’re ready to just get better,” assistant coach Brent Anderson said of the team’s practice Tuesday.

The matchup against Utah State will be a solid road test for the Cougars after playing their last five games at South Field. Utah State is hoping to continue their success against BYU after beating the Cougars 2-1 last year— Utah State’s first ever win against BYU.

“We expect them to put a lot of pressure on us, they’ll be fired up,” Anderson said. “We’ll go into that match with confidence, but we’ll be going into that match hoping to be a little bit cleaner in our execution.”

Weather conditions in Logan have caused the match to begin at 3 p.m. MDT instead of the originally scheduled 5 p.m. start.

Following the trip to Logan, BYU will return home to face longtime rival Utah.

“The next game, that’s the biggest game on our minds, so (we) definitely got to focus on just one game at a time, but the Utah game definitely comes with a little more to it for me personally,” said defender Natalee Wells, who transferred to BYU following two seasons at Utah.

Last year BYU made the trip up to Salt Lake City and tied with the Utes, making BYU’s all-time record against Utah 24-8-3. The match in Provo will be Utah’s second away game of the season, with the Utes currently standing at 4-1-2.

“(We’re) just excited to get out there and prove to them that BYU is great”, Wells said.

BYU and Utah will kick off at South Field at 7 p.m. MDT Saturday. Fans are able to watch the game on BYUtv or the BYUtv app and can listen live on BYU Radio.