Four Cougars ranked in Postseason Top 100

LONG BEACH, Calif. — BYU juniors Laveni Vaka, Brecken Mozingo and Jamie Shepherd were all ranked in the Top Drawer Soccer Postseason Top 100, and Izzi Stratton was ranked in the Top 100 Freshmen, the organization announced Friday. 

Ranked No. 43 nationally, Mozingo led the BYU women’s soccer team with 12 goals, 10 assists and 109 shots. With 5.78 shots per game, Mozingo ranked No. 1 nationally. With her 10 assists this season, Mozingo finds herself in the BYU record book tied for fourth-highest assists in a single season in BYU history. She is now ranked No. 2 in most shots in a season, with 109. 

With a postseason national ranking of No. 56, Vaka closes out her junior season with several accolades. While playing in all 21 games for 1,834 minutes, Vaka tallied one assist and five shots and earned WCC Defender of the Year honors. Prior to the start of the 2022 season, Vaka and Shepherd were named to the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list. 

Coming in at No. 74, Shepherd had yet another strong season as a Cougar. As a team captain, Shepherd was named the WCC Midfielder of the Year after a career-high year of seven goals, five assists and 45 shots. 

Shepherd, Mozingo and Vaka were also included on the NCAA All-West Region First Team. Both Mozingo and Shepherd picked up All-America Second Team honors as well as WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention.

Stratton was ranked No. 6 after her freshman season with the Cougars. She was a key starter for the Cougars in the center back position, playing side-by-side with Vaka for a lockdown defense. Stratton proved to be BYU's consistent center back this season as a true freshman, with 12 shots and 1,445 minutes played. Stratton was named to Top Drawer Soccer's Bext IX All-Freshman Team and the WCC All-Freshman Team.