No. 7 BYU gets first Big 12 win at South Field
No. 7 BYU women's soccer fought long and hard against Kansas State Monday for the program's first-ever Big 12 home win, in 2-0 fashion.
While home games have posed a challenge for the Cougars to score compared to their away games, BYU was able to break its streak of ties at South Field against the Wildcats.
The Cougars kept all their fans on the edge of their seats as they fought to get the ball to the back of the net throughout the game.
First half
Within the first five minutes of the game the leader in assists for BYU, Kendall Pertersen, went down holding on to her wrist. Once she was able to recover she went down again after being taken out by Kansas State’s number 14.
The Wildcats may have thought that Petersen would be down for a time but she was able to get back on the pitch not long after.
During the rest of the first half, the Cougars were able to pin the Wildcats on the north end of the pitch.
Kansas State were able to get a shot in at the 28-minute mark but was quickly returned with BYU’s 14th shot fired by Erin Bailey,
BYU fired shot after shot adding up to 23 shots to Kansas State’s two with seven of them on goal. The pressure did not let up for the entire half but the Cougars were unable to get the ball past the Wildcats defense and keeper, Murphy Sheaff.
Second half
The Cougars came into the second determined to score.
Allie Fryer came in hot with three shots on goal just within the first 10 minutes of the half but still with no avail.
As the half started to come down to its last 20 minutes, BYU pushed harder, fighting with everything they had left.
In the 76th minute defender Camryn Jorgensen came barreling down the field, passed the ball off to Brecken Mozingo on the right side of the offensive third. Mozingo then kicked the ball across the box when it found Fryer who was then able to guide the ball with the back of her heel, past Kansas State’s keeper and into the goal giving BYU the lead, 1-0.
“I think we were kind of getting a little frustrated,” said Fryer when reflecting on her goal. “But we stuck to our game plan. We kept going towards the goal and we weren't really flustered. But as soon as that ball went in, I think some weight was lifted off our shoulders and it was nice to get rewarded.”
With this breath of fresh air, the Cougars were able to put another goal on the board in the 83rd minute when Petersen sent a shot on goal into the bottom-right corner of the goal to bring the score to 2-0.
“I saw the opportunity to go forward and I'm really glad it worked out because two's better than one.” said Petersen when asked about her goal.
The Cougars head back out onto the road to Neal Patterson Stadium to face off Oklahoma State on Thursday October 12 at 7 p.m. CDT. Live coverage will be on ESPN+.
