Wolverine roar: Looking back on top stories of 2022 for UVU athletics – Daily Herald
Isaac Hale, UVU marketing
UVU senior Blaze Nield (right) defends BYU guard Rudi Williams during the Wolverine win over the Cougars at the Marriott Center in Provo on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.
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If you haven’t taken the time to follow Utah Valley University athletics, you’re missing out on some tremendous accomplishments.
Yes, UVU is the university with the largest enrollment in the state (43,099 students for the 2022 fall semester but the Wolverine sports teams still have catching up to do to reach the level of other, more well-known in-state program.
They are, however, closing the gap.
UVU is becoming a force to be reckoned with in a lot of athletic competitions and has big plans for the future, so don’t be surprised if the Wolverines keep earning more headlines.
Before UVU flips the calendar to 2023, it’s time to take a look back at the biggest stories in Wolverine sports in 2022:
1. UVU men’s basketball crushes BYU for back-to-back wins
Cougar fans may still want to believe that playing the Wolverines should be an easy win for BYU, but recent results have certainly proved that to be an erroneous assumption.
This year UVU headed to Provo after eking out an overtime win in Orem in December of 2021 and left no doubt who was the better team on that day.
The Wolverines overcame an early deficit, surged in front early in the second half and never looked back, pulling away to get the 75-60 blowout victory over their more famous neighbors.
2. UVU women’s soccer also beats BYU, returns to the NCAA tournament
The Wolverines certainly won’t soon forget Sept. 10, 2022. That was the day UVU women’s soccer went down University Parkway to South Field in Provo and triumphed, 4-2, over the BYU.
The win over the 13th-ranked Cougars was the highest nationally ranked opponent that UVU has ever beaten, surpassing its win in 2021 over No. 25 Memphis in the NCAA Tournament. The win was also its first win over BYU in program history.
The Wolverines went on to have another excellent season and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament (another program first), setting up a rematch. This time the Cougars got the 3-0 victory to end a great run for UVU.
3. UVU announces big-time soccer stadium upgrade
The Wolverines continued to demonstrate their investment in the sport of soccer by announcing in October plans to build a $20 million soccer stadium.
The future 22,000-square-foot stadium will include locker rooms, a team lounge for both programs, additional locker rooms for visiting teams and officials, 400 additional chairback seats, covered plaza seating, an MLS-style press box with a broadcast booth, and 10 luxury suites — each holding 16 guests.
The new naming rights sponsor is Utah Community Credit Union. UCCU Stadium will be built on the west side of Clyde Field — the current soccer stadium — and will serve both the men’s and women’s soccer programs. When finished, it will be one of the top facilities in NCAA Division I soccer.
4. Wolverine runner Everlyn Kemboi caps fantastic year by becoming All-American
UVU has had a solid cross country program for many years, but senior Everlyn Kemboi proved to be in a class of her own.
Kemboi became the program’s first All-American in cross country after finishing 19th at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 19 at Oklahoma State University. The 27th-ranked Wolverines, making their first team appearance in program history, finished 26th overall.
Kemboi and senior Hannah Branch became the program’s first female outdoor track & field All-Americans in June, with both achieving the feat in the 10k.
5. Former UVU men’s soccer star Matt Gay wins Super Bowl as kicker
As a university that doesn’t have a football program, gridiron success for former Wolverine athletes isn’t common.
Former UVU men’s soccer star Matt Gay, however, got to shine on the biggest football stage there is.
Gay, who left the Wolverines to become a football kicker at the University of Utah, plays for the Los Angeles Rams and had some key kicks as his team overcame every challenge to win Super Bowl LVI, 23-20, over the Cincinnati Bengals. Gay kicked a field goal and two key extra points in the close victory.
6. LaMont, Drury make runs at NCAA wrestling tournament
Four-time qualifier Taylor LaMont and first-time qualifier Haiden Drury both made nice runs as they represented UVU at the 2022 NCAA Championship at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
A year removed from reaching the semifinals and earning All-American honors, LaMont finished his 2022 NCAA run with a 2-2 outing and one-win shy of reaching Friday evening. Drury entered as UVU’s highest national seed at the national tournament and although he ended up 1-2 in the finals, he finished his freshman campaign with a 20-8 record.
Sophomore 197-pounder Evan Bockman also competed at his first trip to nationals for UVU but had his inaugural run cut short on the first day with an 0-2 outing.
7. Wolverine women’s hoops reaches WAC semifinals, deals with major roster changes
The UVU women’s basketball program capped a solid season in 2021-22 by reaching the WAC semifinals before falling to Stephen F. Austin. Since many of the Wolverines were underclassmen, there was reason to hope that UVU would come back even stronger.
But during the offseason, many of the most experienced Wolverines elected to transfer, forcing UVU to change their tactics and rebuild for the 2022-23 season.
While the preseason has been rough, the Wolverines have relied on Shay Fano (9.7 points per game) and transfer Jaeden Brown (11.6 points per game) to lead the way and build toward league play.
8. UVU men’s basketball wins at Oregon, just misses big win at Wake Forest
While the win over BYU was certainly a highlight for the Wolverines, it wasn’t the only big moment UVU has enjoyed in the early going of the 2022-23 season.
The Wolverines won their sixth consecutive game on Dec. 20 as Trey Woodbury scored a season-high 24 points with nine rebounds and six assists to lead UVU to a 77-72 road win over Oregon. It was the second straight year defeated a Pac-12 team on the road after winning at Washington in 2021.
The Wolverines almost came up with another big victory over a high-profile foe when they went to Wake Forest in November and gave the Demon Deacons everything they could handle, losing on a 3-point buzzer-beater in overtime.
9. UVU golfers come away with medalist wins
October was a big month for Wolverine senior Brady McKinley, who set a goal to win a tournament in 2022-23. Four tournaments into the fall season he had already accomplished that — three times.
No golfer in UVU history (and very few college golfers in general) had ever won back-to-back-to-back individual tournament titles as he won the Ram Masters Invitational at Fort Collins Country Club, the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational at Boulder Country Club and the Shocker Invitational at the Crestview Country Club in Kansas.
In addition to McKinley’s success, Wolverine women’s golf freshman Leighton Shosted won her first collegiate event at the UTRGV Invitational at McAllen Country Club in March.
10. UVU baseball starts new era with Eddie Smith as head coach
There are always unknowns when a new head coach takes over and that was certainly the case for the Wolverine baseball team in 2022 as first-year coach Eddie Smith worked to get UVU back on the winning track.
While there were many tough games for the Wolverines along the way, the 2022 season concluded with an eight-win improvement from a year ago in Smith’s first year at the helm.
The Wolverines only had five seniors, so there should be a solid core of returners for Smith to work with for 2023. He credited the seniors for setting the tone with what he hopes will be a “stepping stone” for future success.