BYU blanks Saint Mary's 7-0 with Tucker's historic night

PROVO, Utah — Cameron Tucker etched her place in the record books as she scored a career-high four goals and powered No. 20 BYU women’s soccer (7-3-1, 2-0) to a 7-0 win over Saint Mary’s at South Field on Wednesday night.

With her performance against the Gaels, Tucker joins BYU legends Shauna Rohbock, Jenni Willardson and Bobbi Tillotson as the only players in program history to record a four-goal game. Tillotson was the last to record the four-goal feat in a 6-0 win over Air Force on Oct. 13, 2005.

“She’s dangerous,” said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood of Tucker. “She’s proven that when we can get her the ball face forward, she’s able to finish. She has a lot more in her. We’ll continue to try to find her.”

Tucker’s four-goal performance also moved her into the top-10 all-time at BYU in career goals scored. The senior forward from Highland, Utah is now tied with Michelle Jensen Peterson for ninth all-time at 36 career goals. Teammate Mikayla Colohan is currently fourth in program history with 43.

“It means a lot,” said Tucker of her place in the record books. “You dream about this. It’s just awesome.”

Saint Mary’s tested the BYU defense early with a corner kick and shot right off the hop in the fourth and fifth minutes, respectively. Staunch protection from BYU defenders Laveni Vaka and Olivia Smith kept the Gaels at bay, as did a key save from goalie Cassidy Smith in the 13th minute.

BYU gradually ramped up its attack and broke through when Tucker diced up the defense on route to her first goal of the night in the 21st minute. Ten minutes later, Tucker would strike again when she dispossessed a Saint Mary’s defender and found the back of the net to put the Cougars up 2-0.

Olivia Smith joined the Cougars’ scoring attack in the 42nd minute as she floated a shot just over the fingertips of the Saint Mary's keeper into the upper left corner of the net for her first BYU career goal.

Following a 3-0 half time advantage, the Cougars let loose another flurry of shots in the second half with goals from Tucker in the 56th and 62nd minutes, followed by a goal from Ellie Maughan in the 81st minute. The last goal of the night occurred in the last 30 seconds of the match off a header from Caroline Stringfellow, with an assist from Tara Warner.

For the game, BYU recorded 20 shots with 12 on goal to the Gaels’ five shots with two on goal. Saint Mary’s entered South Field on Wednesday having allowed just five goals all season.

“This was a great team effort all around,” Rockwood said. “I feel like last week at Gonzaga, we slipped a little bit in the second half and didn’t keep our composure. Tonight, we played a full 90 minutes. We’re getting better with each game.”

BYU continues WCC play as San Diego invades South Field on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. MDT. Tune into the Cougars’ matchup with the Toreros on the BYU Sports Network – BYU Radio 107.9 FM/BYU Cougars App, BYUtv.org and the BYUtv app.