Emma Hamberlin spent part of BYU’s offseason training as a center back. Saturday night, Jennifer Rockwood sent her up front at halftime and got two goals from a player who had never scored in college.
That is the useful part of No. 9 BYU’s 2-0 win over USC. The Cougars did not simply wait for their usual scorers to break a scoreless match. They changed the job of a versatile junior, and Hamberlin finished twice in 14 minutes to turn an even game into BYU’s second win over a Big Ten opponent this season.
The brace also answered the question BYU carried home from Wisconsin. After going almost 40 minutes without a shot on goal in each of its first two regular-season matches, the Cougars needed a second-half attacker who could keep the goalkeeper involved. Hamberlin became that answer at exactly the right time.
The position change mattered before the goals
BYU’s official roster lists Hamberlin as a forward/midfielder, but Rockwood told KSL Sports that the staff had trained her at center back this year because the roster needed more depth there. That was not a ceremonial experiment. It was a real attempt to solve a defensive personnel question with a 5-foot-8 junior who had started eight matches as a freshman and appeared 23 times off the bench last season.
Then USC came to South Field and held BYU scoreless for 69 minutes.
Rockwood used Hamberlin up top for the second half. The move made sense even before the first goal. Hamberlin had produced BYU’s clearest first-half chance, a one-on-one that USC goalkeeper Josie Biehl saved in the 37th minute. She already looked more likely to finish than a player being kept in reserve for defensive work.
The distinction matters because “versatile” can become a polite way to say a player has no settled role. Saturday gave the word some teeth. Hamberlin did not merely cover two positions in training. She supplied something BYU’s attack had been missing in a live match.
| Match receipt | BYU | USC |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 2 | 0 |
| Shots | 12 | 11 |
| Shots on goal | 5 | 5 |
| Saves | 5 | 3 |
| Corners | 7 | 4 |
| First-half shots | 5 | 5 |
| Second-half goals | 2 | 0 |
Those totals show why the position decision matters more than a comfortable-looking final score. USC matched BYU with five shots on goal. Chelsea Peterson made five saves, including the work needed to keep the match level through the first 68 minutes. BYU did not overwhelm the Trojans. It found the better finisher.
One goal came from pressure, the other from a repeatable action
Hamberlin’s first goal arrived at 69:15 after USC failed to clear Emma Neff’s cross. The ball deflected through the box, and Hamberlin put the loose chance into the left side of the net.
There is a little good fortune in any failed clearance. There is also a job that still has to be done. BYU’s 2-1 win at UCLA came from similar alertness after a turnover and a free kick hit the post. At Wisconsin, the Cougars lost because the Badgers reached the rebound after Chelsea Peterson saved a penalty. BYU has now played three matches in which the next action after the first ball changed the result.
This time Hamberlin got there.
The second goal at 83:38 tells BYU more about what it may be able to repeat. Sophomore midfielder Afton Perry drove through USC’s defense, found Hamberlin between defenders, and watched her finish off the far post. Hamberlin told KSL Sports that she had worked on that shot for a year.
That is not proof she will score twice every night. It is a cleaner attacking pattern than hoping for another loose clearance: Perry wins a one-on-one, Hamberlin finds the pocket, and a practiced finish beats the goalkeeper.
BYU’s first two regular-season goals came from Mattyn Summers-Oviatt and freshman Brynnli Tolbert at UCLA. Hamberlin made herself the third Cougar to score and the first to do it twice. A team that leaned heavily on Ellie Walbruch and one other player for shots on goal in its first two matches suddenly has another route.
BYU fixed the late fade without pretending USC was easy
The USC watch guide identified two windows: the opening 20 minutes and the first 10 after halftime. BYU did not score in either one. The match stayed level longer than the script wanted.
The important correction came afterward. At UCLA, BYU recorded its final shot on goal in the 51st minute. At Wisconsin, Walbruch forced two saves in the 50th and 51st before the Cougars went quiet on frame. Against USC, BYU scored in the 70th and 84th.
That is a direct answer to the early-season warning, even if it came through a personnel switch rather than a wave of chances. The Cougars kept enough attacking threat on the field to decide the match late instead of asking Peterson to preserve another narrow result by herself.
USC deserves the context in the record. The Trojans took 11 shots, put five on target and were still within one goal until the 84th minute. The red card reported by BYU came moments after Hamberlin’s second goal, so it did not create either score or explain the 2-0 margin. BYU beat a full-strength USC side before the Trojans finished the final minutes with 10 players.
The win also keeps the strange series pattern intact. The home team has never lost in 12 BYU-USC meetings. That history did not score on Saturday. Hamberlin did.
Goalkeeper depth got a smaller but real update
Hamberlin owned the headline, but Paiton Collins supplied another useful roster development. BYU reports that the junior goalkeeper played her first minutes since tearing her ACL last season. The public recap does not turn that appearance into a new depth order, and Peterson’s five-save shutout gives BYU no reason to manufacture one.
It does give Rockwood another available goalkeeper after an injury absence. Kyleigh Hastings also logged her first official college minutes. Neither note should be stretched into more than it is, but both matter during a four-match homestand that continues quickly.
BYU hosts Minnesota on Thursday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. Mountain on ESPN+. It will be the Cougars’ fourth consecutive regular-season match against a Big Ten team. Through the first three, BYU is 2-1 with wins over UCLA and USC, a one-goal loss at Wisconsin, and four different scorers.
The Minnesota question is no longer whether BYU can find someone beyond its established attacking names. Hamberlin answered that. Now Rockwood has to decide how often the player trained to provide center-back depth belongs up top, where one halftime produced the best finishing stretch of BYU’s young season.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics, Aug. 22: Hamberlin’s brace lifts No. 9 BYU over USC 2-0 for the official result, scoring sequence, Rockwood quote, 12-11 shots, 7-4 corners, Collins and Hastings appearances, and Minnesota listing.
- USC Athletics, Aug. 22: USC women’s soccer falls 2-0 at No. 9 BYU for the independent result, 69:15 and 83:38 goal times, Perry assist, first-half shot split, 5-5 shots-on-goal line and team saves.
- KSL Sports, Aug. 23: Emma Hamberlin opens collegiate account with brace for Hamberlin’s 45-minute appearance, center-back training context, prior BYU usage, announced attendance and player comments about the second goal.
- Official BYU Athletics API: women’s soccer schedule, event 25200 and schedule ID 1624 for completed status, South Field venue, post-event article ID and the Aug. 27 Minnesota listing.
- BYU Sport Nuts: USC watch guide, Wisconsin recap, UCLA analysis, women’s soccer roster and schedule.
