SALT LAKE CITY — BYU women’s soccer lost some control of its own postseason destiny with a three-match winless skid including back-to-back losses to Kansas and UCF.

But a win over an archrival and some help in the desert extended a lifeline Thursday night, much the same way the Cougars offered a lifeline to continue a backup goalkeeper’s career.

Mia Lopez and Mackenzee Vance each scored a first-half goal, and Chelsea Peterson made three second-half shutouts to secure a 2-0 win over Utah and clinch the final berth in the Big 12 soccer tournament.

The win snapped a two-match winless skid — one that happened to coincide with two matches midfielder Lucy Kesler missed for training camp with the United States’ U-20 national team.

“Lucy has a huge presence for us on the field,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “There’s no doubt she’s had a fantastic season for us this year.

“We really missed her the last two games, but we were excited for her opportunity to train with some of the best players in the country at her age. And we’re super excited to have her back; she brings a lot of confidence to the team and a lot of energy — and a lot of personality that we love.”

BYU (9-6-3, 4-5-2 Big 12) needed a win in the blue-and-red rivalry derby, as well as less than 3 points each from Cincinnati, Houston and Arizona State to secure a spot in the conference tournament in Fort Worth and Waco, Texas.

The Bearcats and Houston both lost their regular-season finale, and Arizona State’s 0-0 draw with in-state rival Arizona eventually pushed the Cougars over the postseason line. But first, they had to take care of business on the road.

Peterson knew the stakes before the game. She also knows a thing or two about winning at Ute Soccer Field.

The 24-year-old junior from Orem spent three seasons at Utah, including starting 19 games for the Utes in 2021 when she tallied the fourth-most saves in school history against then-No. 10 Stanford and finished with a .754 save percentage.

Peterson left school to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and upon her return from Manchester, England, entered the transfer portal.

Two years have passed, and Peterson, who led Orem High to the 4A state championship in 2018 and five Utah State Cup titles with her club team, has had to think about life after soccer. She had a few offers — but also a strong feeling to enroll at BYU, even if only as a student, she said.

“I prayed about it while I was in the transfer portal, and felt extremely strongly to come to BYU,” Peterson explained. “That was absurd, to turn down other places to play and turn down my plans — and I just did it.

“But it panned out, I guess.”

When BYU’s starting goalkeeper from a year ago retired the week before the season started, Peterson’s phone lit up. It was BYU assistant coach Steve Magleby, who coached her with Utah Celtic since she was 11 years old.

The Cougars had a need, with just two goalkeepers on roster — sophomore projected started Paiton Collins and true freshman Sarah Mathis. But Peterson wasn’t so sure.

“There was a good amount of convincing to be done, to be honest,” she said. “But they obviously won the battle there, and I’m stoked to be here with them and playing with great girls.”

Lopez gave the Cougars (9-6-3, 4-5-2 Big 12) a lead in the ninth minute, scoring the freshman’s sixth goal of the season for the early advantage despite some possessive pressure from the hosts.

Vance doubled the advantage off her left foot in the 26th minute.

“She’s been working so hard after she missed the first half of the season with injury,” Rockwood said of the former UCLA transfer and BYU’s only senior, “and so it was awesome to see her out there playing with more confidence. She really gave us some run of play in the first half.”

But things could’ve spiraled for the visiting Cougars a few minutes before halftime, when starting goalkeeper Paiton Collins — who made two saves — fell to the grass after an awkward, non-contact landing on her knee.

Rockwood was hopeful after the match for Collins, who spent the second half icing her knee with her teammates on the bench. But the team will get a better idea of in the coming days of any potential long-term effects.

As for Peterson, who debuted 10 days ago off the bench to preserve a 2-2 draw with then-No. 21 Colorado, the 5-foot-8 goalkeeper was clutch again in the final 47 minutes.

Not that it was immediately easy, she said after facing the Utes (7-10-3, 2-7-2 Big 12), who out-shot BYU 18-13 with five shots on goal.

“Coming in, I was called to punt immediately and my leg was frozen,” Peterson said. “That one just spun away forever. But I love playing with these backs; it’s the best back line in the country when we’re all on the same page.”

BYU will open the Big 12 Tournament Monday against top-seeded TCU at 3 p.m. MST at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.