La Mirada, CALIFORNIA (May 29, 2010) — The BYU Cougars won their first game of the season with a 2-0 victory on the road against the Southern California Seahorses Saturday night.  The win snapped a three-game losing streak and marked the first shutout of the season.

“I was real proud of our guys to bounce back after a couple of tough games,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “Tonight it all came together.  It was fun to win like that on the road.  It was a great result for us.”

BYU (1-3-1) got the game winner, just five minutes into the match when freshman forward, Toni Niccoli, beat a couple of defenders and fired a shot from 30 yards out that gave BYU its first lead in any PDL game this season.  It was Niccoli’s second goal of the year after scoring Thursday night against Los Angeles.  In the 18th minute, senior midfielder and co-captain Brit Osborne, received a cross in the box from junior defender, Cameron Lamb that he buried from six yards out.  Osborne has now scored two goals on the season.

“It was a huge win for us,” said Toni Niccoli.  We were looking to get two wins this weekend.  We’re disappointed about losing Thursday so that upped the ante tonight.  We needed the points for our confidence.  We needed the win.  It’s going to be a good stepping stone.”

“As a coach (winning) makes us really feel like we’re on the right track,” said Watkins.  “We’re getting better as a team.  The guys never quit on us.”

BYU will hit the road against next week to play Thursday against the 2009 Southwest division champion, Hollywood Hitmen and Saturday versus the 2009 PDL Champion, Ventura County Fusion.  Both games kickoff at 7 p.m. PT.

“Next weekend is huge,” said Niccoli.  “We’re playing the top two teams in the league.  It’s only going to get harder from here.”

Scoring Summary
5′    BYU  1-0  Toni Niccoli
18′  BYU  2-0  Brit Osborne (Cam Lamb)

Starters (Subs)
GK: Bryan Black
D: Cameron Lamb (Tyler Christiansen), KC Whitworth, Drew Van Wagenen, James Bindrup (Doug Clark)
M: Brent Jensen, Matt Rider, Brit Osborne (Kip Critchlow)
F: BJ Pugmire (Jantzen Romney), Toni Niccoli (Connor Bassett), Blake Tillotson

Postgame Notes

-BYU recorded its first win and shutout of the season
-The Cougars are 1-0-1 when scoring two goals this season (5/8 tie at Orange County and 5/29 win at Southern California)
-Brit Osborne and Toni Niccoli both scored their second goals of the season and both have combined to score four of BYU’s five goals this season
-Matt Rider made his first career start in PDL action
-The Cougars snapped a three-game losing streak, its longest since 2006
-Connor Bassett made his first appearance in the PDL since 2007 following his two-year, LDS mission
-Bryan Black started Saturday after sitting out Thursday with an injury
-James Bindrup received a yellow cardTweet

Junior forward, BJ Pugmire drops some of his writing skills on the blog with his weekly look at the different aspects of the BYU soccer program.

Most people who are six-foot-six and can jump have a tendency to play basketball or football. Bryan Black choose to dedicate himself to a different sport entirely: soccer.

Black is currently the starting goalkeeper for the Cougars and has proven essential on a number of different occasions. The most recent occasion coming against the U-21 Mexican national team.  Black made big save after save to keep the Cougars in the game, the first of which came 35 seconds into the match. Many argue that goalkeeper is the most important position on a soccer team, and BYU is fortunate to have Black filling that role.

He started playing at age six because his siblings played.

“It was kind of the family thing to do,” Black said. “I played because my brother and sister played. When I was 13 I realized I loved the sport so I decided to dedicate myself to it.”

At the age of 13 Black started playing goalie as well. With his size and athleticism he has all the qualities necessary to be a top notch keeper.

“I am very confident in Bryan’s abilities,” said Jantzen Romney a sophomore from Sandy. “From the plays he has made in games, in practices I know we can count on him.”

Black said he decided to play keeper because of the excitement that comes with the position.

“You can play the whole game and not see a lot of action but you have to make the play when it counts. There is a lot of pressure involved,” Black said.

Black was recruited to BYU by former assistant coach Brian Jolley who coached him in high school and was also a great goalie for BYU. Black said his experience at BYU as a whole has been wonderful, and he is very grateful to be a Cougar. He is studying communications and hopes to graduate within a year or so.

“Right now I am just enjoying my college experience playing at the Y,” Black said. “But if I had the opportunity I would love to play professionally as well.”

The Cougars are certainly pleased with Blacks progression as a player. Professional coaches have also taken an interest in his abilities. For a number of months throughout the past year, Black has been contacted by coaches at Real Salt Lake to help them in practices and at other times. With the experience Black has gained at BYU and RSL, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him reach the next level!Tweet

Jarom Jordan

This morning the team practiced for about an hour in Newport, then went to the beach for a couple of hours.  Tonight the team will hang out at the Pugmire home where BJ’s family will host a barbecue.  I’m told there’s a hot tub and pool there.  Too bad I didn’t travel with the team.

“We need to relax and have fun as a team.  Once we relax, we’ll play better.  We have a lot to work on.”  – BJ PugmireTweet

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu

PROVO, Utah (May 27, 2010) — The BYU Cougars fought valiantly on the road against the Los Angeles Legends, but lost 3-1 on Thursday night.  The Cougars controlled possession and momentum most of the first half but missed on a couple of scoring chances.  BYU is now 0-3-1 and has lost three in a row for the first time since the end of the 2006 season.

“I was proud of our effort,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “The Legends were a great team and they played very well.  We all gave it our very best shot.  We still need to finish a lot of balls.  We will work for a better result next time.”

Toni Niccoli scored for the Cougars. (BYU Photo)

The Legends have won all three meetings against the Cougars and swept the season series, outscoring BYU, 5-1 in two games.  Blake Tillotson, BJ Pugmire, and Brady Marshall all had solid scoring opportunities but missed.  Heriberto Ponce struck first for the Legends in the 43rd minute when he took a rebound off a shot and put it away.  In the 65th, Marc Pulido scored a well struck free kick up and over a BYU wall, on the inside of the post and in to go up 2-0.  Freshman forward, Toni Niccoli snapped a two-game offensive shutout streak for the Cougars when he turned and fired a rocket shot off a pass from Jantzen Romney to make it 2-1 in the 78th minute.  Ten minutes later the Cougars brought 10 players into the box for an unsuccessful corner kick that Marc Pulido countered on and scored to make it 3-1.

“I think a lot of us are leaving tonight knowing that we learned something but being so far down in the table is a bit daunting.  We have a good team and we’ll bounce back but we feel our backs are against the wall.  We have work to do.”

Junior goalkeeper, Cory Cosgrave got his first start and playing time as a Cougar as well as Brazilian freshman midfielder Pedro Vasconcelos, who made an immediate impact.  “Our guys are excited about having some new ideas in our attack,” said Watkins.  “We’re excited about Pedro.”  “He brings something to the team that no one else does,” said Pugmire.  “His ability to play balls with his quickness and moves makes a difference.”

BYU will practice Friday morning in preparation for a matchup with the Southern California Seahorses at Biola University in La Mirada, California at 7 p.m. PT, Saturday night.

Scoring Summary
43′  LA     1-0  Heriberto Ponce
65′  LA     2-0  Marc Pulido
78′  BYU  2-1  Toni Niccoli (Jantzen Romney)
89′  LA     3-1  Marc Pulido

BYU Starters
GK-Cory Cosgrave
D-James Bindrup, Drew Van Wagenen, KC Whitworth, Cameron Lamb
M-Britton Osborne, Brent Jensen, Kip Critchlow,
F-Toni Niccoli, Brady Marshall, BJ PugmireTweet

Junior midfielder, Josh Patino gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “On the Pitch”.

May 26, 2010 – It’s been a short week. We only practiced yesterday and today, today being a shorter practice due to tomorrow’s game. We’re looking to bounce back from our disappointing weekend at home this last weekend. We play the Legends again tomorrow at their home and then Saturday we play Southern California. Both will be tough opponents to beat on the road. However, definitely neither team is unbeatable. Wish us luck!

I’d like to focus this entry on a more personal view. I’ve mentioned in the past few blogs about a nagging injury that hasn’t healed yet. I have what is called athletic pubalgia, the English translation of that is a “sports hernia.” It’s a medical condition of the groin that obviously directly affects athletes. It occurs as a result of repeated trauma or overuse of your groin area. Until recently this term was completely unknown to me. I’ve played soccer my whole life without any major injuries, of course, I’ve had a sprained ankle here and there, along with a couple of bruised thighs and shins but nothing that would sideline me. It was almost a month ago when we played Weber State as a practice scrimmage when it happened. I had worked out earlier and felt fine. I played a 90-minute game and felt fine. The second we started our warm up run across the field the pain became very apparent. I didn’t think much of it and played through it even though just passing a slow rolling ball on the ground hurt like no other. I ignored it the next week as we prepared to play our first season game and our match against Mexico. There was no way I was missing out on that.

It’s almost four weeks later and I’m sitting out, shagging balls for my teammates because I’m unable to practice. I’m out indefinitely. I had to get an MRI done, not a cheap medical examination. Most likely I will have to have surgery and then 6-8 weeks of recovery time. I know…exciting huh? No. Not at all. The reason I decided to write about this and why I think it’s so important is because I don’t want this to happen to you! Take it from me, It’s almost depressing watching your teammates play while you can barely kick a ball. I encourage you to take care of your body. Eat right, sleep well, and keep your exercise program/practice at a manageable level. Injuries are no fun. Sometimes we think our bodies can handle all the exercise that we put on it, we’re young right? Wrong. Don’t over do it. I’m a prime example of doing too much and now I’m paying the price for it. My body will heal again and I’ll return to the playing field when this is all over, I’m not worried about that. The fact is, when one takes care of their body and exercises appropriately then things like this don’t happen and no one suffers.

To all soccer players out there – take care of your bodies. As an athlete, it is your greatest asset. Coaches and trainers have a responsibility to bring out the players’ maximum potential but outside of practice the sole responsibility of your health lies on you. Soccer is a sport that requires a very high demand of your body physically. Your body needs to be ready at any time to give maximum effort and no less. Being foolish in caring for your body will increase your chances of injury and decrease your opportunity to play. I’m sure you’re all doing great, I just wanted to reinforce the importance of the physical care of your body. The boys leave tomorrow morning for what will be a GREAT weekend in CA. I’m confident we can come home with a few victories. Although we lost our games at home this weekend, I think it’s evident that we can play with anyone. We’ll finish our chances this weekend. We made the mistake once and early on the season. We’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again.Tweet

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu

Click here for a PDF of the complete game notes.

Cameron Lamb and the Cougars look to pick up the first win of the season, this weekend. (BYU Photo)

PROVO, Utah (May 27, 2010) — After losing a pair of games at home last weekend the BYU men’s soccer team looks to get back on track with a tilt against the Los Angeles Legends on Thursday, May 27 and game at the Southern California Seahorses on Saturday, May 29. Both games kickoff at 7 p.m. PT.

“We are excited to play again and our players and staff are anxious to prove ourselves with two road games,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins. “It’s never easy getting points on the road, but we are a good team that works hard, so we will always have a chance.”

The Legends (2-2-2) defeated BYU (0-2-1) last Friday 2-0 in Provo. Jesus Ochoa (12′) and Daniel Martinez (45′) scored for L.A. in the win. BYU is 0-2 all-time against L.A. losing 2-0 in both meetings (2009, 2010).

BYU is 2-5-1 all-time against the Seahorses. The two first met in 2003. The Cougars tied 3-3 on June 25 last season.

“I think our team just needs to look have fun this weekend,” said senior midfielder and co-captain, Britton Osborne. “I find we play our best when we are having fun. That is why we all play this game, because we love it. We have all the talent we could ask for, but we need the pressure of winning to be lifted from us. I look forward to playing with my boys again and proving to ourselves that we are capable of playing and beating anyone.”

PREMIER DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
After winning seven club national championships, Brigham Young University joined the Premier Development League in 2003. The Cougars reached the elite eight in 2006 and 2007. The PDL is the top U23 men’s league in North America and features 68 teams within four conferences across the United States and Canada. The PDL season consists of 16 regular season matches for each team, eight home and eight away. The PDL provides elite collegiate players the opportunity to taste a higher level of competition while maintaining their eligibility. BYU is the first and only university to own a franchise in the PDL. In addition to league play, PDL teams compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as well as various exhibitions. The United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League has proven to be an important stepping stone for top professionals now playing around the world.

FOLLOW THE COUGARS ONLINE
Check out the Cougars on twitter at www.twitter.com/byusoccer or on the official website at www.byusoccer.com.

QUICK FACTS
Who: BYU Cougars vs. Los Angeles Legends
When: Thursday, May 27 at 7 p.m. PT
Where: Los Angeles, CA (Bishop Mora HS)

Who: BYU Cougars vs. Southern California Seahorses
When: Saturday, May 29 at 7 p.m. PT
Where: La Mirada, CA (Biola University)Tweet

June 11. It’s just weeks away. Here’s a couple of commercials to get you in the mood.

ESPN

Adidas

Nike-Write the Future

This is an interesting video about the ball being used in the World Cup. There’s some fun symbolism, physically on the ball.
Tweet

Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “From the Box”.

Tough weekend. The good news is we dominated our opponents, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. To say that we’re going to be hungry for a win this weekend is an understatement. Any time you get 40 shots off in 2 games without a goal, you’re beyond anxious for the next game to start so you can have a better result. That’s where we’re at now, nowhere to go but up, and I’m confident the guys are up to the challenge.

With only 2 days to train before we hit the road, we’ll have to be efficient and pick out the most important things to work on. Obviously finishing will be at the top of our list, but we’ll also need to instill a renewed confidence in all the players. I’m very excited for the uphill climb. I think the best way to find out how much character a team has is to see how they react when their backs are against the wall. The one thing I guarantee about this team is that we’ll fight until the very last minute of the very last game of the season.

Go Cougs!Tweet

I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet with every active player’s year-by-year and career statistics. Last night senior defender, Drew Van Wagenen played in 5,000th minute as a Cougar in the PDL.

Click on the link to see everyone’s stats. These are based off of PDL games only and the information is taken from BYU’s page on the PDL website.

Click Here for StatsTweet

PROVO, Utah (May 22, 2010) — BYU lost its second straight home game Saturday night to the Lancaster Rattlers, 1-0 at the Stadium at South Field.  The Cougars controlled most of the possession for the game and out shot the Rattlers, 22-7, including 8 corner kicks but were shut out for the weekend.  The Cougars are now 0-2-1 and Lancaster improves to 1-1-3 in the Southwest Division of the Premier Development League.

“I would put this as one of the most disappointing weekends we’ve had at home,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “We played two games we could have won and we lost.  To go 0-2 at home is a major blow for us.  We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

BYU senior defender, Drew Van Wagenen, who played his 5,000th minute as a Cougar tonight was called for  handling in the penalty area, resulting in an Andres Bueno penalty kick that gave Lancaster a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute.  Cougar opponents have scored the first goal in all three PDL games this year.

Senior defender, KC Whitworth says BYU will still have a good season. (BYU Photo)

BYU had multiple quality chances to get an equalizer but didn’t connect.  Lancaster dropped nine players into the defensive half for the final 45 minutes, repelling multiple attempts by Toni Niccoli, BJ Pugmire, and Jantzen Romney.

“It’s incredibly disappointing,” said Watkins.  “With 22 shots you can make an excuse on one but with 22 you need a little more quality.  You’ve got to expect a little more of yourself individually.  Our forwards didn’t take anyone on and beat someone in the offensive third.”

“It’s an interesting game,” said senior defender and co-captain, KC Whitworth.  “It’s whoever gets the ball in the net more.  We didn’t score this weekend so we can’t expect to win.  It’s really hard.”

Lancaster received three bookings on the night with yellow cards going to Hany Helmy (28), Zach Brunner (36), and Tyler Coombs (86).  Whitworth received a yellow in the 64th minute.  BYU was shut out on back-to-back games for the first time since May 30 and June 9 of last season.

“Most of our issues are psychological,” said Watkins.  “One goal would go a long ways but we’ll go and practice hard.  I don’t have a whole lot of drills in my rolodex here to try and boost our psyche to believe they are great players.  They have to earn that on the field.  We’ll try to replicate that in practice.”

“We’re only three games into the season,” said Whitworth.  “Both teams we played this weekend, they were doing dances in the locker room because they know that we were the better team.  We are a great team.  It will be a good season.”

BYU travels next week to play the Los Angeles Legends on Thursday, May 27.  Miss the game?  Watch it for up to two weeks after the airdate on www.byu.tv.

Scoring Summary
LAN 1-0   34′  Andres Bueno (PK)

Final Stats
LAN      BYU
Goals                  1          0
Shots                  7         22
Fouls                  10         9
Offsides               4          5
Yellow Cards       3          1

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