Emma Hamberlin spent the spring and early weeks of the 2026 season thinking her BYU future might be at center back. On Saturday night, though, the junior from Vienna, Virginia showed exactly why the Cougars have kept her in the attacking mix.
Hamberlin scored twice in the second half for the first two goals of her collegiate career, sending No. 9 BYU to a 2-0 win over USC before an announced crowd of 3,236 at South Field.
“We’ve been training her as a center back just because we need to have some depth there,” BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said, “and we believe Emma is so versatile that she can do a lot of different things for us. But to see her go in and do what she did shows she’s just a natural attacker; it’s what she’s done her whole life.
“I’m really excited for her to have that success.”
The performance came with Hamberlin playing 45 minutes off the bench and helped BYU move to 2-1 on the year against a run of Big Ten opponents. It also came in a game where the Cougars needed patience. The teams played to a 0-0 first half in their 12th meeting all-time, each side putting up five shots in the opening 45 minutes.
USC had the better of the early finishing chances. Jaiden Rodriguez accounted for two of the Trojans’ three shots on target in the first half, and BYU managed just two shots on goal before the break. Senior goalkeeper Chelsea Peterson steadied the Cougars with five saves in the first 68 minutes.
Still, BYU kept pressing, and the breakthrough finally arrived in the 70th minute. Emma Neff sent a cross into the box, the ball pinged off a pair of USC defenders, and Hamberlin was there to finish in front of goal for a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we did enough to deserve that goal,” Rockwood said. “We had some really good looks, and some combination play; we moved the ball really well. USC is a fantastic team, and they’re going to win a lot of games this year.”
Hamberlin wasn’t done. In the 84th minute, she rounded the corner of the penalty box, took a pass from Afton Perry and drilled a shot off the far post to seal it.
“It’s the type of shot Hamberlin says she has been working on for a year - and the type of build up she’s seen plenty before in BYU’s 2-1 start against a trio of Big Ten opponents.
“Afton has been killing it; she’s so good at one-v-ones, and when I saw her driving, I knew she was going to get a cross off,” the goal scorer said. “I found that pocket in between the defenders, looked up, and saw the far post was open. So I just took a shot, curled it, and it bounced off the post to make it that much sweeter.”
Hamberlin arrived at BYU as a 2023 Girls Academy League national champion and a 4.0 student. Born in France, she started eight of 13 games as a freshman and added two assists before her season ended Oct. 4 against Arizona. A year later, she appeared in 23 matches off the bench, averaging 21 minutes per game and again tallying two assists.
Rockwood and her staff had tried to shift the 5-foot-8 playmaker toward center back because of the team’s need there heading into 2026, after BYU finished 11-7-6 and reached the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 24.
On this night, though, Hamberlin looked right at home where she has always made the biggest impact.
BYU will continue its four-match homestand Thursday, Aug. 27, when it hosts Minnesota at South Field at 7 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
In Other News...
BYUs New Big Man Could Change More Than The Frontcourt
Jaxon Kohlers decision to join BYU gives the Cougars a frontcourt piece with far more range than the usual post addition. After four seasons at Michigan State, where he averaged 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds last season, Kohler arrives with a reputation for scoring inside, stepping into midrange looks and even stretching out to the three-point line, all while bringing strong free throw shooting and a feel for making plays for others.
For BYU, the fit could ripple beyond the paint. He is expected to spend more time at center, which should give the Cougars a different look offensively and potentially open up more lineup options around him. The intriguing part is not just what Kohler adds in the lane, but how his skill set might change the way BYU can space the floor and use its big men moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Is Getting National Hype Around A Key Big 12 Hope
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The bigger takeaway for BYU is how much this latest spotlight reinforces the sense that the program has real backcourt buzz. Sweeney also called Wright a candidate to lead the Big 12 in scoring, while several other Utah-connected names made the broader watch list, including BYUs Collin Chandler and Bruce Branch III, plus former Utah players Kanon Catchings and Keanu Dawes. For the Cougars, the early national chatter around Wright is the sort of sign that suggests expectations are rising fast. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Fans Have An Early Reason To Love This Incoming Class
A wave of BYU football commits is already making its presence felt as their senior high school seasons get underway, giving Cougars fans an early glimpse of the class before those players ever arrive on campus. Ezra Sanelivi stood out in particular, breaking loose for two long rushing touchdowns and finishing his opener with 133 yards, a strong start that has only added to the buzz around the incoming group.
He was far from alone, either. Blake Wong, Uhila Wolfgramm, Moa Havili, Jaxson Rex, Jeremiah Williams, Peyton Higginson, Tytan DeJong, Kyle Babrotzky, Lakepa Satuala and Jag Ioane also turned in notable performances in their own games, a reminder that this class is not being built around one headline name. For BYU, the early returns are encouraging, even if the bigger question is how all of that prep success will translate once these commits are wearing Cougar blue. [Read more 🡒]