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PROVO — Zoe Jacobs took the pass from Rachel McCarthy at the top of the box, and seemingly only had one person in mind to find before goal. Why would she need anyone else?
The quick pass went to fellow senior Brecken Mozingo, who immediately drove at a UCF defender, shook off another, and fired a ball toward the far post that sailed through two different defenders' legs before it found the netting inside the far post beyond the reach of an outstretched goalkeeper.
The dirty double-nutmeg goal helped lead the Cougars, ranked No. 6 in the country, to a 4-1 win over UCF in the semifinals of the Big 12 conference tournament in Austin, Texas. And with it, BYU — the No. 2 seed by just 2 points in its first year in the league — found itself advancing to faced fourth-seeded Texas in Saturday's championship final (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN+).
Mozingo has been as big a part of the success at BYU (16-1-3) in her senior season as anyone, including the nine other seniors celebrating their final season of eligibility with the Cougars.
But perhaps the most surprising thing is that no one seems surprised.
"She just leaves it all out on the field," sophomore forward Allie Fryer said. "Brecken's a silent killer; you never know what she is thinking, but she goes out and balls out, leading through her composure. She says she gets jitters, but you'd never know it. She's so composed on the field, and she makes it look so easy. … We want to be like Brecken."
Y'all thought the first Meg was crazy😱 pic.twitter.com/nlLOpoTFee
— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 2, 2023
Added sophomore Erin Bailey: "She's not necessarily a vocal leader in pregame or our team talks, but what she does, the extra work she puts in, you knows she's putting in everything. She's all-in, all the time, and not just during practices or games. She's always ready. You see that example, and it leads the team to want to be all in."
She's also a "student of the game," said forward Ellie Walbruch, another UCLA transfer who returned to Provo after growing up in American Fork.
"She really knows the game," Walbruch said. "She's awesome. She's a great teammate, and we love to play with her."
The fifth-year senior from Alta High spent a year with UCLA before transferring home to join Jennifer Rockwood's team four years ago and currently leads the Cougars in shots with 62, assists with 12, and her 32 career goals ranks 12th all-time in the BYU record book.
The 5-foot-6 attacking midfielder is tied for the team lead with 10 goals — team captain Olivia Wade-Katoa, Walbruch, Fryer and super sub Bailey also have the same number on a team that leads the nation with 3.40 goals per game and 68 goals on the season.
But that's what is special about this team, Mozingo says: shut down one goal scorer and BYU will find the next. Put an extra defender to stop her from scoring and Alta's all-time single-season record holder from 2016 who played semipro soccer as young as 14 against grown women will just find one of her open teammates for an easy setup.
"It's a ton of fun, how we've been working on everything in pieces and everything is coming together," Mozingo said. "It's fun to see everyone getting on the same page now. … It's such a blessing to see it all start to come together in the most important time of the season."
In a tournament final and a postseason that becomes more win-or-go-home by the day, the Cougars have big goals — starting with the Longhorns, who are playing for a Big 12 tournament title for the second time in three years in their final season before joining the Southeastern Conference.
BYU took a 3-2 win over then-No. 14 Texas on the Horns' home pitch through Bailey's 83rd-minute game-winner on Sept. 25 — a result the Longhorns would love to repay Saturday.
"All we can do is take it day-by-day … and make sure we are prepped and ready to go," Mozingo said. "I think it all comes down to recovery at this point; we know we can play against them. We have the players, the personnel, the deep bench, everything that we could ask for and need. We feel very blessed that we have it, and we've worked to be able to have it.
"This game on Saturday is like our last game of the season, and the last game before the NCAA Tournament where everything is on the line, especially for me and the other 10 seniors. It's a great prep right before we're trying to achieve the goals we had at the beginning of the season."
