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BYU Women’s Soccer: UVU match is more important than it seems

By Shaun Gordon

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 20: A soccer ball sits at the back of the net during a Melbourne Heart A-League training session at La Trobe University Sports Fields on March 20, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 20: A soccer ball sits at the back of the net during a Melbourne Heart A-League training session at La Trobe University Sports Fields on March 20, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images) /
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BYU Women’s Soccer squares off with Utah Valley tonight, and it’s a match that’s much more important for the Cougars than it may seem.

At face value, tonight’s BYU Women’s Soccer match against crosstown rival Utah Valley doesn’t look like that big of a deal.

UVU isn’t having a great season so far. The Wolverines are 1-8-1 so far on the season, and it’s a match that the Cougars should win handily.

But if you factor in possible postseason play, the match becomes a must-win rather than just a should-win.

There are three reasons for this:

Record Boost

Right now the Cougars sit at 4-3-1 on the season. That’s not half bad, considering that two of their losses came against the No. 1 (Stanford) and No. 2 (Texas A&M) teams in the nation.

Monday’s 3-1 loss to Long Beach State hurt, but not horribly so. The 49ers are 5-4 on the season, and their RPI coming into this week sits at No. 43 this week.

Women’s soccer works similarly to basketball when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. Conference champions get automatic berths into the 64-team tournament, and the rest of the field is filled by at-large berths.

Just like in basketball, a committee selects the teams and seeds them. They look at record, RPI, strength of schedule, and other similar factors when creating the bracket.

If the Cougars can finish their non-conference schedule with a 5-3-1 record and no bad losses, they’re still in a good position for an at-large berth if they don’t win the WCC.

If they suffer a fourth non-conference loss, that record would look less appealing to the selection committee.

RPI Killers

Right now, BYU’s RPI sits at No. 57 in the country. They need to get their RPI up a little to be an at-large contender.

Beating UVU won’t raise their RPI, but they don’t need this game to boost it. They’ve got upcoming West Coast Conference matchups that will do that. Among their conference opponents are:

  • No. 6 Santa Clara – No. 3 RPI
  • San Francisco – No. 53 RPI
  • Pepperdine – No. 91 RPI
  • San Diego – No. 105 RPI
  • Loyola Marymount – No. 136 RPI
  • Portland – No. 138 RPI
  • Gonzaga – No. 140 RPI

Beating these teams in conference play will raise BYU’s RPI. In fact, just playing Santa Clara and San Francisco will provide an RPI boost.

But on the flip side, if the Cougars lose to a low-RPI team like UVU, it would harm their RPI irreparably.

Just like BYU Basketball’s loss to Loyola Marymount last season…and to Pepperdine in 2017…and to Pacific in 2016…

Momentum

Maybe most importantly, a win over UVU will provide much-needed momentum going into WCC play. BYU’s first four conference matches are against Top 150 RPI teams (Gonzaga, Portland, San Diego, Pepperdine).

The Cougars need to win at least three (or win and/or tie all four) of those games to keep themselves in tournament position, and also to keep themselves in the hunt for a conference championship.

Even if it’s against a sub-par UVU team, a win would give the Cougars a good push into WCC play.

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Match Details:

UVU at BYU – Thursday, September 20 at 7:00pm MT (BYUtv)

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