There were two undefeated teams heading into the final month of the NCAA women's soccer season, BYU and Virginia.
Virginia was undefeated until they lost on a golden goal from North Carolina in the ACC title game on Sunday, Nov. 10.
BYU made it even further, all the way to the NCAA quarterfinals before meeting an extremely tough Stanford squad who blew them out 5-1.
How did BYU make it this far without a loss on its record? Let's find out as we tracked BYU's progress throughout this season.
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BYU (21-1-1)
BYU was on the brink of perfection until it traveled to Santa Clara on Oct. 5 and recorded its first tie of the season. The Cougars had to battle back after giving up a 2-0 deficit at the half, but thanks to goals from Ashton Brockbank and Cameron Tucker, they salvaged a 2-2 draw. It was something head coach Jennifer Rockwood said had to happen to make up for the defensive mistakes made in the first half
“The girls battled extremely hard and I thought we played very well,” Rockwood said after the match. “We were a bit unfortunate with a couple of defensive mistakes that led to their goals, but for the most part defensively we were very solid. I am just proud of the way we fought through.”
The Cougars bounced back from that tie nicely though, as they went on to win 11-straight matches including winning the Mountain West conference and outscoring their opponents 49-5.
BYU was rolling until they traveled to the Bay Area and hit a major speed bump in Stanford. The Cardinal jumped out to a quick lead, going up 4-0 in the first half with two goals from their sensational forward and defending MAC Hermann award winner Catarina Macario.
Unfortunately for BYU, the only game they lost was against one of the best teams in the country and came at one of the worst times — an elimination game in the NCAA quarterfinals.
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