One team walks away ecstatic, with the other shaking heads with looks of disappointment. That was the scene following a thrilling tie in Thursday night’s first-ever Big 12 matchup between No. 1 BYU and unranked TCU.
Both squads were ruthless in their pursuit of the win and the crowd of over 5,400 Cougar fans only heightened the atmosphere. The night’s 3-3 draw was BYU’s first of the season but proved the No. 1 team knows how to react after a punch to the gut, not once, but three times. For the Horned Frogs, the draw was a testament to their aggressive high-press, their ability to play through a hostile environment, and a keeper who made a career-high 9 saves, overcoming the Cougars’ slew of 24 shots (TCU had 7). The frantic tempo of the battle was heightened by a number of physical skirmishes with the Cougars delivering 11 of the total fouls (17).
“It was a fantastic college game tonight,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable, and the soccer was awesome. We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome, but really proud of the way we fought back against a great TCU team that proved to be able to score goals more than we had hoped.”
The scoring started just two minutes into the match with TCU’s high-press picking off a Cougar clearance and…
