Two years ago, BYU shocked the women’s soccer world by taking down the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins.

In BYU’s 2025 home opener, the Cougars did it again, knocking off No. 4 UCLA 1-0 Saturday night to secure their second win over a ranked opponent this season— with a lot more soccer to play.

Photo by BYU Photo

“It’s a huge win for us, our home opener against one of the premier teams in the country year in and year out,” said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood. “We knew this was gonna be a big game.”

The Cougars were coming off a disappointing 2-2 tie against Cal Poly on Monday, but proved they could bounce back and compete among the best in the sport.

BYU’s defense proved essential to the win, where the only goal of the match came from a penalty kick.

Sophomore goalie Paiton Collins became the starter after the surprise departure of Lynette Hernaez, with the team hearing the news only two days before fall camp.

“It was a shocker,” said Collins.

One of the comments made about her status as the starter during the Cal Poly game mentioned how she “hasn’t really made a name for herself.”

Collins heard that loud and clear.

“Before this game, I was writing in my notebook and said, ‘I think this is a game I can really make a name for myself,'” Collins recalled.

Photo by BYU Photo

Her moment came in the 83rd minute. With just her, UCLA’s Lexi Wright, and the ball, Wright shot to the bottom right side of the net. Collins answered with a full extension, leaping save to keep the Cougars in front.

“I think everyone kind of thought it was going in,” Collins said, “and I think that was my big moment. I came up big, and hopefully that puts my name on the board.”

Those gritty performances were all over the pitch tonight in front of a full house at South Field.

What about that one goal?

No. 19 BYU’s Ellie Walbruch notches third goal of the season against No. 4 UCLA

1-0 BYU at the half pic.twitter.com/X0zEa9dgGw

— Jason Christensen (@JasonSChris) August 24, 2025

Ellie Walbruch, who transferred to BYU from UCLA in 2022, now has three goals for the 2025 season — half of BYU’s goals scored this season. She has become the face of the offense, and you could tell UCLA wanted to keep her away from the ball all game. All it took was one penalty kick to get her in front of the ball when it mattered most.

“In the Cal Poly game, we had a lot of chances,” said Walburch. One of those chances was a PK she took that did not result in a goal.

“I think I learned my lesson last game of second-guessing myself, and I know how good I am at PKs,” she said. “I’ve been practicing the whole week, trying to get my rusty ones out, and [I] finished it. It was a great PK.”

BYU has a lot of work to do if it intends to compete come conference play, but it has a lot to be proud of with this win.

“We’ll learn a lot from this game,” said Rockwood. “There’ll be a lot of good film for us to clean up on some things. But again, just a real gritty performance.”

The Cougars will look to keep their momentum Aug. 28 against Auburn as they begin their stretch of five games in a row at South Field.