BYU Women’s Soccer: Cougars face tough schedule as they try to rebound

In 2017, BYU Women’s Soccer suffered one of their worst seasons in program history. They’ll look to rebound in 2018, but a daunting schedule will make things difficult.

Three different streaks snapped last year for BYU Women’s Soccer.

Five straight conference championships.

Five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Twelve straight winning seasons.

The Cougars finished 7-8-4 in 2017, their worst record since 2004, and only their second losing season in the program’s Division 1 history.

If you’d say that 2017 was a down year, you’d be right.

Now it’s up to Head Coach Jennifer Rockwood to lead a rebound year in 2018. She’s had to do it only once before, and she succeeded. In 2004 BYU finished 7-10-4, but turned it around in 2005 with a 15-2-4 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

A rebound like that in 2018 would be just what the doctor ordered.

But it won’t be easy. Of the 16 players who played in at least 13 games last year, exactly half have graduated. The Cougars scored 32 goals in 2017, 20 of those by seniors.

BYU has a lot of production to replace, and they’ll have to figure things out quickly if they want to begin a new streak of winning seasons. The 2018 schedule won’t do them any favors.

This week, Rockwood released the entire 2018 schedule, and it’s packed. The Cougars will take on six teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year, including defending champion Stanford. Those six teams went a combined 10-5 in the tournament.

Three of the Cougars’ first four games will be against 2017 tournament teams. Their home opener, the fourth game of the year, comes against the Cardinal.

Let’s look at some of the biggest games in 2018: