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Speaker 1: He's taking off of the day now going to get
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ESPN the fan hotline and welcome in our first guest
of the program. She needs no introduction. They brought home
the Big Twelve title. I remember when they were in
the championship game two years ago. I thought they would
get it done. They got their revenge. They made sure
they brought it back. All she does is win games,
go to semi finals in the College Cup, the semi
the College Cup finals, and now she has her first
Big twelve title. Please, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome in
BYU women's soccer coach Jen Rockwood. Coach, thanks for joining
me today.
Speaker 3: Hey wow, thank you for having me. Appreciate it and
appreciate all you guys support of our program.
Speaker 1: Of course, first Big twelve title for the program.
Speaker 2: I had said this a few years ago.
Speaker 1: I said, look, if there's any program that will get
a championship in this first year in his first couple,
it's Jen Rockwood in the BA women's soccer program. Man
of course, dil G Taylor. I was like, did you
talk about goats of goats? Coach, just take us through.
What did it feel like to be able to raise
that trophy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was amazing. Actually, you mentioned dil G. I
told her before the week that I wanted to we
wanted a trophy like she has, so I wanted to
follow her lead. But yeah, just an amazing journey for
our team this whole season, particularly last week, you know,
going in to play TCU and knowing what we had
to get through to get to that championship game. I'm
so proud of this team. I have an amazing staff
that has helped bring everybody to being their best, and
you have to be. It is the best season the
Big Twelve I think has ever had. We've had eight
teams that are ranked in the RPI, eight teams that
were seated in the instantly tournament. To win the whole
thing was quite an accomplishment for our program and for
all of our great players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is an accomplishment. The Big Twelve is one
of the premier soccer conferences in college. It's no joke.
It's tough, it's physical, right, I've been there with the
guys and so and I've covered all of these games.
And to go on the run that you guys did,
what do you attribute that to? You get a victory
over TCU? It had been a while you get the
get back against Baylor and then you rectify the win
against Kansas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we've just we've had a great season
and we had our high expectations. Our expectation was to
win the tournament and win the conference this year. And
you know, we got off to a fantastic non conference start,
one of the toughest non conference schedules in the country.
We were ranked tenth in the country, and then we
started having some injuries that just you know, kind of
kept us back a little bit. We started conference play
with a loss to Arizona State without our two center backs,
and you know, we've just had lots of different injuries
and people playing new positions, different positions, people off the
bench becoming starters, and we were just good enough to
believe that we could win every game when we slept
on the field and and and just maybe not mature
or experience enough to find ways to win those games.
And so it was kind of that up again, down
again season conference for US conference season for US, and
we just kept believing and we just knew we had it.
And as we knew we hadn't played our best soccer yet,
we knew we had played some really amazing soccer, just
couldn't find some results, and so you know, when things
kind of went solved for us against UCF, we knew
we had to beat Utah to even have a chance
to get into the tournament. And so I think everybody
just locked in knew that what we were capable of,
and we've just been writing the momentum since that Utah game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you definitely have been riding that momentum since the
Utah game. I felt like that was a turn. I
saw Kansas catch fire last year, and you guys caught
that same fire after that more.
Speaker 2: And there's a certain person. You know her well better
than I do.
Speaker 1: You've watched it for a while, But my goodness, I knew,
I knew Elie Wahlberg was good. But my goodness, yeah,
she's a good Every goal that she squad is like,
can that make Sports Center top?
Speaker 2: And she kept out doing it.
Speaker 3: Ye man, she really did, she really did. You know.
Ellie obviously had an acl last year, couldn't play and
had to lead from the sidelines and did a fantastic job.
And you know, when you're away from the game for
nine ten months, it's tough, and you know, she she
she got off to a little bit of a rocky start.
It wasn't going as smoothly as she wanted, and she
just kept fighting, just kept piercing, persevering, and she knew,
we all knew she had it in her. And you
could see her gradually gain her confidence back, could gradually
see some balls goals falling for her. But then, my goodness,
she just went on a streak of bangers left and
right and even from thirty yards out, you know, for
the game winner. So she definitely has a green light
to shoot whenever and from wherever she wants. But just
so proud of her. It's been a long fight and
a tough journey for her, but I know she's loving
this game, loving this team, and I think she's got
some more great goals in front of her.
Speaker 2: She definitely does.
Speaker 1: Just a reminder for the fans the case you missed
a BYU women's soccer pick to be a fifth seed
in the tournament, Coach, you guys taking on Utah Stata
familiar folle this Saturday CDM at south Field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're excited, you know, Manny at Utah State has
just done a phenomenal job with Utah State obviously a
ranked team. Last year had their best program ever and
then they come back and one again in their Mountain
West conference, and so we'll play them on Southfield. They're
a tough team. We played them earlier this season. They
always bring their best. It's always a tough game when
you play some of these in state schools because you're
very familiar with them. So we're really looking forward. We're
proud to be an intiabil A tournament again and ready
to roll.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like your side of the bracket too, not trying
to look ahead at all. But if you guys win,
I think you guys could get matched up again with UCLA,
who you also played earlier in the year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of familarity for sure. If we can.
Speaker 3: Get past Utah State, you know Ucla as a forest,
he has to play Pepperdine. Pepperdine is a tough team.
They usually always get some wins in the instably tournament.
So anything can happen, obviously in this first round.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything can. That's the nature of the tournament. That's
why I love postseason sports. Anything can happen, and stories
are written and made. But I want to focus one
more time on Utah State. You played them earlier. They
you know, the saying it's always tough to be the
two team twice. But you guys are playing so well
right now in that back line and defense is locked in.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's going to be an issue.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, that's something that we really focused on.
She even prior to the Utah game, was our defensive
energy and our commitment to defend, and that's you know,
defense wins championships, defense wins big games. And our back
line has really come together. You know, Presley went down.
We hope she can maybe play on Friday, but we
have other players who have stepped up, will have batch
you back. We think this this weekend as well. So, yeah,
we've got to defend well. They're a good attacking team.
They outshot us the first time that we played them
earlier in the season. But our defense is really locked
in and we've proven to score goals in lots of
different ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with that. I hope you get Pressley Freeman back.
Speaker 1: She's great in the back line, one of the elite
you have multiple but one of your elite defensive players
that you have in the backfield. Speaking of defense, look
Peyton Collins is playing amazing and it's unfortunate what was
happening with Peyton, and you know, wish her well in
the recovery.
Speaker 2: I know she'll be back. But then Chelsea Peterson the
story behind that.
Speaker 1: Just take this through that, like you you found her
and I'm like, okay, So they got multiple aces in net.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know, we're very fortunate that Chelsea's with us.
Speaker 2: Quick story.
Speaker 3: You know, she she played up at Utah obviously, and
then went on a mission and when she came back,
she she wanted to come to b YU, but we
already had a full goalkeeper unit and just didn't have
a spot, just didn't have any room to add to
the roster, and so she decided to just come to
b YU. So we knew she was a student here
at b YU. And I got a call a couple
of days before season started that our starting keeper Lynnette
had just gotten married and she was taking a step
back from soccer and maybe retiring. Wasn't sure that she's
going to play again, And so I made a phone
call to Chelsea on Monday, and by Tuesday she was
at practice and has just done an unbelievable job for us.
And got the call to go in when Peyton got
hurt and has just been brilliant. You know, Peyton has
her surgery today, so she's going to be on the
men getting back the Chelsea's come in and has played
probably one of the best keeper performances I've seen in
that Kansas game, especially those last fifteen minutes. So Chelsea
is a big reason why we were able to stay
strong and get results in the Big twelve tournament.
Speaker 1: Yeah, big save after big save, and you mentioned and
I remember that one in particular. She doesn't make that
save on the right side coaches the tip ballgame on
ot maybe.
Speaker 2: And she was able to seal it for you. How
big was that save in that moment? It was huge.
Speaker 3: You know, we were protecting a one zero lead in
Kansas is so strong offensively, and they were coming at
us and we were getting a little shell shocked, and
we really relied on our back line, but particularly Chelsea
to make some big, huge saves, both on shots and
on corner kicks and some set pieces.
Speaker 2: So, you know, lots lots of praise for Chelsea.
Speaker 1: You just might have gotten back to your coach, but
you might not have heard it. But I'll is at
the basketball game on Saturday. I put obviously altting you
guys during the game, but then afterwards, Kevin Young in
his opening statement gave a shout out to you g Taylor,
and he says a lot of good things going on
at Boy, you just wanted your taking your thoughts on
that he gave you guys a shout out.
Speaker 2: I thought that was really great that he did that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Kevin has such a presence now and
he's doing such an amazing job and a national brand
now and just everybody's talking. Everybody's excited about basketball. So
appreciate his support of our women's teams here and obviously
a lot of people listen to him, so certainly appreciate that.
Excited for his season and the men's basketball team. I know,
everybody's just hyped to get going with this group. So yeah,
appreciate that. Someone sent me a clip announcing our championship
in the Marriott Center, and so again that's awesome. Cougar
Nation is so supportive of our program, you know, more
than the stadium was full at Baylor for the championship
game for Cougar fans, and so it was just really
fun to celebrate with everybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, kugarnation is so supportive.
Speaker 1: Look, I mean you guys have sell out after sellout
at Southfield I project and predict another sellout will be
this riding Friday for sure for you guys, what do
you construe with this momentum in BYU Athletics. I mean
Tom Homoald did such a great job and hey you
got Brian Santiago and it's continuing to thrive. If you
look at athletics to me, big I mean BYU to
me is one of the biggest brands right now in
the Big twelve across all of athletics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know when we committed to go
to the Big twelve and we've got some resources and support,
donor support and administrative support. You know, Tom let us
in this direction. Brian has just taken over. Brian was
out our championship game and so he's a huge support
for us, just excited about you know, all of the
athletics here at BYU were all committed to be a
national brand, to be known so that people know who
we are, what we stand for, why we're a little
bit different, and why we could excel at the highest
line U in what we love doing so excited about
the sports here this fall with everything going off. You know,
football's killing it, basketball is getting started, cross country is always.
Speaker 2: Killing it, and volleyball is doing really well too. So
we tried and start.
Speaker 3: Cooper Sports off on the right foot in the fall
and let it continue on with everybody else.
Speaker 2: In the winter.
Speaker 1: In the spring, well, it definitely has been continuing in
the right direction. I mean, if you're a fan of
BYU athletics, any place you turn, you're not going to
be disappointing.
Speaker 2: Coach.
Speaker 1: I don't want to get ahead of myself, but you
guys have a lot of moments and right now, look,
you know, I know the expectation is just to win
this game and go for but if the way you
guys are playing, you guys might have a shot to
be able to go all the way.
Speaker 2: I like the way I see this team playing right now.
Speaker 3: We know you're always enter the tournament thinking that you know,
you obviously take one one game at a time, but
you know, just last week we beat three ranked teams.
You know, TCU probably would have been a one seed.
Vanderbilt won their PK in the title game, and TCU
didn't you know, so TCU's basically a top five team.
You know, all eight teams in conference are ranked, and
so we've played a really tough schedule for the past
two months, and so I think we're ready. I think
it's really prepared us to make a running in Saway tournament.
We love that we get to play at Southfield for
our first game, and we're just going to keep rolling.
And I think if we believe, great things can happen,
and we expect to win every game. Every time we
step on the field, we expect to be our best.
Speaker 2: And the best I believe was Showcase.
Speaker 1: And I just reminded for the fans all my time, guys,
you got to support the BYU women's soccer team. It's
going to be this Friday, November fourteen, six pm at
Southfield Mountain Standard time. They take on Utah State in
the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Another opportunity for
Jenna Rockwood in a program to excel an elite. They've
been to so many you know, Sweet sixteen Elite aids
and to the College Cup, another opportunity.
Speaker 2: Coach.
Speaker 1: We wish you the best of luck and all of
Kugernation is supporting you. As you obviously mentioned, and we
will catch up with you later.
Speaker 3: Awesome, Thank you so much, appreciate your support and appreciate
you guys covering USKUS.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I will let you go. That's coach Rockwood.
Speaker 1: Everybody always appreciate Coach Rockwood in her time and every
all the efforts. It's really difficult to, you know, compete
for conference championships weekend and week out them, especially when
there's the expectation. Right, Remember, last year, this team was
picked I think number three I think in the country. Now,
obviously I lost a bunch of seniors to the draft,
so I knew they weren't number three. But at the
same time, I that's just how it is. The preseason
rankings are done based on what you did last year.
But now that they've won the Big Twelve, you know
what would those rankings look like in the future.
Speaker 2: But look, Jen Rockwood is the is the goat, one
of the.
Speaker 1: Go coaches here at BYU because the goat to women's
soccer has been really the only coach uh and she
just does phenomenal job. I mean, captured Big Twelve title
third year, first year in the Big teve they were
in the championship didn't get it done right. But then
that team went on to the college semi final. That
just speaks of the nature. And then dialg Taylor. You
know what they do over there, you know at cross country,
I mean track and field. It's phenomenal that. But Jim
Rockwood finally gets her Big twelve title. Those big twelve
rings will be coming and hopefully we get to see
the reveal.
Speaker 2: How shine and they look Ellie Walbrook. Don't know if
Ellie Walbroke will come back.
Speaker 1: I mean, she had put out something I think of
Center Street media saying a national championship is coming to
BYU for next year. Look the way she was playing.
I don't know if she comes back, We'll see. But
whether she does or not, Bau's got a good shot
and when they lock in defensively. But again this Friday,
they'll be taking on Utah State at Southfield.
Speaker 2: You gotta go.
Speaker 1: Support six pm Mountain Standard time. It won't affect the
TCU game. I know people like football, it won't, So
get out there Friday night to support the lady Coog's
on the pitch. And then tomorrow the DECI I said
tomorrow the day after my apologies to fifteenth, you can
catch all the other events going on with Bioyomen's basketball
and football and basketball as well November. So it's the
most wonderful time of the year, as as I like
to say, because you got all of you, you got soccer,
you got basketball, you got football. You're gonna be well
entertained down there at Brigham Young University. That insider port
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