ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – San José State’s Bente Pernot faced 11 penalty kicks at the 2022 Mountain West Women’s Soccer Championship and completed her tournament Most Valuable Player performance by knocking away the last one on Saturday night at the UNM Soccer Complex to seal a roller coaster tournament title for the Spartans.

Two of San José State’s three matches at the tournament were decided in penalty-kick shootouts, where Pernot emerged as a hero time and time again. Saturday night was no exception, as she denied Wyoming’s Alyssa Glover to spark a wild celebration after the Spartans claimed their third MW tournament title.

After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, San José State won the shootout, 6-5, to claim the title. The Spartans earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships, advancing in the postseason with a record of 8-6-7. Wyoming’s season came to an end with a record of 8-6-6.

The two teams, who shared the regular-season title along with New Mexico, each had numerous chances throughout the match but could not find the back of the net. The Spartans held an 18-14 advantage in shots, with Pernot making four saves in the match and Wyoming’s Miyuki Schoyen making five stops.

One of Pernot’s best saves of the tournament came in the 108th minute, as she extended to her left to deny a strike by Maddie Chance that was headed to the far post. The MW Newcomer of the Year collected her ninth shutout of the season.

Schoyen’s first important intervention came in the 16th minute during a corner kick, when she raced forward to smother a low cross with a San José State attacker looming in front of her. The all-tournament selection completed her second shutout of the season and second in-a-row, after Wyoming’s 1-0 win over San Diego State in the MW semifinals on Wednesday.

A temporary moment of disaster was followed by a brilliant moment of recovery by Schoyen midway through the first half, as she slipped to the grass while making an initial save on a shot by Sabrina Weinman. The falter caused a bobble that put the ball at the feet of Bella Flocchini, but Schoyen bounced back up to save the day on a shot from directly in front of the goal.

The teams opened the second half with a burst of energy, with each generating a good scoring chance in the opening five minutes. For the Cowgirls it was a shot by Alyssa Bedard from inside the box, and for the Spartans it was a 28-yard free-kick strike by Weinman that grazed the top of the netting above the crossbar.

The Spartans continued threatening, with a free-kick strike by Weinman and a header shot by Cynthia Flores off a corner kick both being saved by Schoyen. San José State then avoided a scare in the 57th minute, when MW Defensive Player of the Year Jada Wilson chased down Glover and slid in front of her to block a shot from inside the goal box.

The Spartans’ closest chance of the match came in the 68th minute, when Flores rattled the upper-right corner of the woodwork with a blazing shot that smashed off the crossbar.

It wasn’t her first heroic moment of the tournament, but Pernot kept the game scoreless in the 75th minute with perhaps her best save of them all. With Wyoming’s Bedard on a wide-open breakaway into the box, Pernot stood her ground, widened her stance, and made a point-blank stop to knock the threat away.

The best chance of overtime for the Spartans came in the 103rd minute, when a sliding shot by Flores skimmed just wide of the left goal post from eight yards away. The Spartans held an 11-7 advantage in corner kicks, and the teams were nearly even in fouls with the Cowgirls committing 14 and the Spartans 13.

Match Notes

  • Saturday marked the fifth time in conference history that the tournament title was decided in a penalty-kick shootout: 2004 (Utah 4-3 over San Diego State); 2006 (UNLV 6-5 over Utah); 2015 (San Jose State 4-2 over San Diego State); 2016 (UNLV 4-3 over San Diego State); 2022 (San Jose State 6-5 over Wyoming)
  • It was the second meeting of the season between the teams, with Wyoming claiming a 2-1 result on Oct. 23 in Laramie, Wyoming.
  • San José State leads the all-time series between the teams 6-4-2.
  • Saturday was the first-ever postseason meeting between the teams and the first neutral-site contest between the teams.
  • San José State first won the conference tournament in 2015 and claimed its second crown in 2018.

2022 Mountain West All-Tournament Team

Jadyn Edwards, New Mexico
Myah Isais, New Mexico
Alexa Madueno, San Diego State
Kiera Utush, San Diego State
Kiana Miyazato, San José State
Bente Pernot, San José State – MVP
Taylor Phillips, San José State
Jada Wilson, San José State
Maddi Chance, Wyoming
Miyuki Schoyen, Wyoming
Jamie Tatum, Wyoming