Here’s the BYU Soccer billboard that will be on I-15 on the west side of the freeway near IKEA in a couple of weeks.  Sweet!

The 2010 BYU Men's Soccer Billboard

If you want to check out some of the groups and fan pages for the BYU men’s soccer team, check out these links on facebook.

BYU Men’s Soccer Fan Page

BYU Men’s Soccer Alumni

These are the two official groups/fan pages of the team.Tweet

Freshman midfielder, Matt Kurtz is officially joining BYU following his high school graduation.  Matt is a strong midfielder out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here’s his bio.

Matt Kurtz-Midfielder

Notes: Attended the same high school as BYU midfielder, Connor Bassett…Four year starter…Captain his junior and senior seasons…Named All-Southern Nevada as a junior and senior…Won the club state championship in 2009 with Las Vegas Premier 92…Born October 4, 1991…Started playing at age 3…Plans on serving an LDS mission in January 2011…A Las Vegas Review Journal “Player to Watch” prior to his senior season in the fall of 2009…Will join the team after graduating from high school…Has two uncles in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Max Bentley & Doug Bentley) and the three other Bentley brothers played pro hockey….

Kurtz on BYU: “I love soccer and wanted to attend a school that would allow me to go on a full-time mission and still be a part of the team.”

Watkins on Kurtz: “He is a big, strong guy who is a nice connector from the midfield.”Tweet

Blake Tillotson and several members of the team will be at Franklin Elementary School (50 South 600 West in Provo) this Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. for a soccer clinic.  They’ll give away mini-soccer balls and tickets to the U-21 Mexican National Team game.  They expect 50 or more kids, ages 8-18 to attend.

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BJ Pugmire will be featured on “Nexos”, a television program on BYU TV International (Spanish) on June 26th at 3 p.m.  If you don’t get the channel, go to their website to watch online for free, live or on demand up to two weeks after the show.  The interview was all in Spanish and is a preview of the season for the team.Tweet

Junior forward, BJ Pugmire was interviewed this morning for a show called “Nexos” on BYU TV International.  I’ll try to find out the show schedule.  It was in Spanish.  I can’t wait to hear the former “Elder Pugmire’s” Spanish.Tweet

Junior midfielder, Josh Patino will have a weekly blog entry on Wednesday’s about his thoughts on the team from a player’s perspective.  Here’s Josh’s first blog called “On the Pitch”.

April 28, 2010 – Hey everyone! Every week I’ll be updating the blog with what’s new and happening with the team. First off, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Joshua Patino, and I play center midfield for the Cougars…but let me tell you how I got here. I’m from a small town in rural Minnesota called Glencoe. Look it up on Google maps and you’ll see where I spent most of my life, I know, it’s tiny. Soccer wasn’t big there, but it was enough for me to play competitively. When I was 16 I joined a premier team in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. At around that same time I heard about BYU’s move to the Premier Development League, a semi-professional league. BYU wasn’t my first choice for soccer and I had a few offers in the Midwest, which were much closer to home, but playing at a semi-professional level at BYU and wearing the blue and white jersey was my dream.

I graduated, left ma and pa, and came southwest to the motherland. I attended the February ’05 tryouts, and apparently the coaches weren’t aware of my dream. In Minnesota we play in heated domes during the winter, so it came as a shock that part of tryouts were held outside when it was practically freezing. I mean seriously…well that didn’t stop me, I tried out again in the fall but to no avail. Coach didn’t pick up any new players. I went and served my mission in the Nevada, Las Vegas Mission, and while I was there I met a Sister Bindrup who turned out to be the mother of Richie and James Bindrup, two BYU soccer standouts. This only increased my desire to play for the Cougars. I’ve now played with both of the Bindrup brothers, who were both very physical players. You’re lucky if you can get past a Bindrup, but of course I can…with ease.

I returned home with an “I will make the team” attitude. I ran every day, I played during any spare time I had, I started going to and watching more games than ever in my life. In November of 2008 I started playing with the team during their free play. I had to start going to bed earlier so that I’d be awake for soccer. I started training with the team at the start of the 2009 year. It took a lot of work to get myself back into shape and improve my ball control. February of ’09 couldn’t come any quicker and before I knew it tryouts were here, my whole family, all my friends, and everyone I had ever played with knew that I was trying out and were behind me, supporting me every step of the way. All my hard work, everything I had given up became worth it when Coach Watkins read my name as part of the 2009 Roster. My dream, or the beginning of it, had been realized.

So here I am, in my second season with the team; our preseason training is about to come to a close. School’s out and its summer time! We had a 2-0 victory in our scrimmage against Weber State last Saturday. Yesterday we had our first afternoon practice, also our first outside. It was a very physically demanding and competitive practice. I’m sure a lot of the guys left with a few bumps and bruises.  I know I did. Even though the intensity is picking up and frustration levels are high, we’re all having fun. We’re excited to travel for our first season game against the Orange County Blue Star. This is everything we’ve been training for. We are so stoked to play against the U-21 Mexican National Team May 12^th.  It’s crazy to think that in four years these players could represent Mexico in the World Cup. I have to jet to practice, but don’t worry I’ll keep you posted!Tweet

The Cougars got a mention in this article on mlssoccer.com today.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/mexican-under-21s-drop-real-salt-lakeTweet

Here’s a sample of some of the team photos, taken in February.  These are raw, unphotoshopped versions, taken by Jaren Wilkey of BYU photo.

Team Photo.

Team and Staff Photo

Seniors (Do they get a discount?)

Juniors

Sophomores

Freshman

Here’s the promotional poster for the game.  Matt Taylor created the content and Dave Broberg produced the poster.  Get your tickets soon.  It will be a sell out, no doubt.

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BYU held its first afternoon practice today.  Assistant Coach, Chad Sackett a pickup in play.  ”There was a big difference,” he said.   “Guys are awake.  This is going to be the timing of when they are playing games so it’s good to get back into the timing of that.”

The Cougars are just another Saturday away from the first game of the season against Orange County on May 8 on the road.

“It’s been a great progression.  We’ve been able to put some great games in play (against Mesa State, UNLV, Dixie, Real Salt Lake, and Weber State.  It started to come together at that Weber game.”

Other practice notes include Junior forward, BJ Pugmire who sat out of practice with a sore quad.  Former player, Steve Magleby practiced with the team yesterday as well as Dallin Hayne of Poway, California who I blogged about last week who has overcome an amputated toe to continue to play soccer.  Steve has some serious hair going on.  He looks like a European soccer play.  That’s street cred.

Listen to the two part audio interview with Chad Sackett where he discusses the first afternoon practice, the first game next week, playing the U-21 Mexican national team on May 12, how BYU players get opportunities to practice with Real Salt Lake, the day’s practice, and the progression of the goal keepers.

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