LANCASTER, California (June 26, 2010) — On the same day the United States lost to Ghana 2-1 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, BYU lost 2-1 to the Lancaster Rattlers.  The Rattlers swept the season series and lowered BYU’s record to 2-7-2 this season, also giving the Cougars a three-game losing streak.

“We’ve had a lot of positives on this trip,” said assistant coach, Chad Sackett.  “We’ve seen leadership and the guys come together.  In a way it’s a hard weekend.  The guys played well.  We have good players.  We had opportunities.  It’s like the USA national team today.  I compare how I felt after watching the USA play today and how we played this weekend.”

Britton Osborne scored in the loss to Lancaster. (BYU Photo)

BYU scored first for the third time this season when Toni Niccoli stole the ball from the Lancaster back line, passed off to Blake Tillotson who took a shot while Brit Osborne took the deflection and finished it in the 10th minute.  It was Osborne’s third goal of the season, which is tied for most on the team with Toni Niccoli and was the second fastest goal of the season.

Lancaster struck back in the 18th minute when Tyler Coombs scored his first goal of the year off a deflection by a Cougar defender to tied the score at one.  Just seven minutes later the Rattlers, Mauricio Harrie scored the game winner on a breakaway to beat BYU goalkeeper, Cory Cosgrave.

“It was just another unlucky game,” said junior defender, Doug Clark.  “We got beat by a team that we could have and should have beaten.  Whether it was the ball bouncing the wrong way or not finishing our chances, that’s just the way it went.”

Just before the half freshman, Pedro Vasconcelos scored a goal off a Britton Osborne cross but the goal was disallowed for an offside call.

The Cougars will bus back to Provo and prepare for their first meeting with in-state rival, Ogden on Saturday, July 3 at the Stadium at South Field.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. MT and fans can watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks show in the stands, following the game.

Starters:
GK-Cory Cosgrave
D-Tyler Christiansen (Brady Marshall), Drew Van Wagenen, KC Whitworth, Cameron Lamb (Trevor Henderson)
M-Matt Rider (Doug Clark), Brent Jensen, Pedro Vasconcelos, Britton Osborne
F-Blake Tillotson (Zach De Francis), Toni Niccoli

Postgame Notes:
-The current three-game losing streak is the second three gamer of the season and ties the longest such skid since 2006
-After going 1-0-1 against the Rattlers in 2009, BYU lost both games this season
-BYU lost despite scoring first for the first time this year (2-1-0 when scoring first)
-The Cougars have scored eight goals in 11 games this year.
-BYU lost both games this week by a single goal
-BYU is 2-7-2 with five games remaining, meaning it will need to win its remaining games to salvage a .500 record.
-All five are in Utah, with four in Provo.Tweet

Jarom Jordan

FRESNO, California (June 24, 2010) — The Fresno Fuego beat the BYU Cougars, Thursday night on a penalty kick in the 67th minute.  The loss drops the Cougars to 2-6-2 on the season.

“It was another disappointing result,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.   “I’m really proud of our energy.  With all of these things happening, we’re not quitting.  We’ll keep working to try and make something happen.”

BYU lost its second game in a row, Thursday. (BYU Photo)

Fresno forward, Milton Blanco made a run at goal when BYU senior defender, KC Whitworth was called for a foul in the penalty area, resulting in a penalty kick.  Fabricio Codeceira buried the PK, just beyond the reach of goalkeeper, Bryan Black for the game-winner and team-leading fifth goal of the season.

The Cougars featured a new formation, playing with four midfielders in a box, instead of a triangle to try and neutralize the Fuego’s midfield connection.

“The new formation worked pretty well,” said junior goalkeeper, Bryan Black.  “We possessed the ball well.  Fresno is a physical team and has a good offensive attack.  They put the ball forward really well and attacked us.  I thought we played strong but they got that lucky penalty kick call at the end.  I was impressed with the way we played.  I just wish we had better results.”

Despite a big crowd and playing down a goal the Cougars had offensive chances throughout the game.  The best one came in the 88th minute off a corner kick.  Doug Clark hit a volley that popped up to KC Whitworth who struck the ball just wide of goal.

BYU plays the Lancaster Rattlers at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster on Saturday, June 26 at 5 p.m. PT.

Starters:
GK-Bryan Black
D-Cameron Lamb, Tyler Christiansen (Doug Clark), KC Whitworth, Kip Critchlow
M-Pedro Vasconcelos, Britton Osborne, Matt Rider, Brent Jensen
F-BJ (Zach De Francis & Jantzen Romney), Brady Marshall (Blake Tillotson)Tweet

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.

Born on February 16, 1991 Nate Stoven is one of the youngest current players on the BYU men’s team. Stoven was born in California but raised in Sandy, Ut. The 6 foot 160 lb goalie started playing soccer when he was four years old.

“All my friends in the neighborhood played so I decided to play with them,” he said. “When I was eight the coach threw me in as goalie and I did really well so I decided to continue as a goalie.”

Stoven has a 16-year-old sister Natalie, who also plays goalie for Sparta FC.

“I try and give her some tips,” Stoven said smiling. “But she doesn’t like it when older brother gives her advice.”

Growing up Stoven played other sports as most young kids do, specifically baseball and some tennis. He also loved to ski growing up as well as all water sports. At Brighton High Stoven was won state both his sophomore and junior seasons. Stoven also found a lot of success with his club team Inter FC. With Inter Stoven won the Utah State championship both his U-17 and U-18 seasons. At the 2009 far west regional, Inter lost in the quarterfinals off an own goal to Slammers FC, a team out of Southern California. Like Kurtz who we profiled last week, Stoven choose to join the BYU team early instead of traveling to Albuquerque, NM with Inter to compete in the 2010 western regional tournament.

“My coach was pretty frustrated,” Stoven said. “I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to come on this trip (Fresno and Lancaster), and get to know the guys on the team better.”
Stoven has earned the respect of his teammates in the short time he has been with the team.

“For not being a big guy he covers a lot of the goal,” said junior goalkeeper Cory Cosgrave. “He’s really quick on his feet.” Stoven says he grew up being a Ute fan and never really considered coming to BYU. After being contacted by Coach Chris Watkins after scrimmaging the Cougars with Inter he realized it was the “perfect” fit.

Stoven said he loves playing at BYU and is excited to progress as a player and prepare for a mission at the same time. He will leave in January or February of 2011 depending on when he gets his call and hopes to be called somewhere Spanish speaking so he can speak with his father.

After watching the exciting United States World Cup match on Wednesday, Stoven wants and hopes the U.S. has a chance to win. “I have to cheer on my boys,” he said.
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The band “Weezer’s” lead singer, Rivers Cuomo loves US Soccer and made this song about this year’s team.  I thought, on a day where the resolve, grit, and never-die attitude of our countrymen shined bright, we’d see a nice music video about the team.

What a goal from Donovan!

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

June 22, 2010 – Today we were back at practice and had Salt Lake Community College come down and play us in a scrimmage. I think we played for 90 seconds before Brady laid off a ball to Toni that he put in back of the net on the far post. That was the beginning to the barrage of goals to come over the next 90 minutes. It was good for our starters to get some good “game like” practice and excellent for our reserves to play and step on the field. We played a full 90-minute scrimmage…and that was practice. We’ll practice tomorrow afternoon and then get on a bus late tomorrow night to drive to Fresno by bus. We’re all SO excited to be on a bus for ten hours and really get to bond as a team.

Tomorrow morning the U.S. takes on Algeria to secure a spot in the round of 16. They’ll win. I know they will. Most of us will gather at Britt’s house to watch the game. It’s activities like that that are just fun and laid back. We all love soccer and for some reason we like watching the world cup. Weird, I know.  We have two games this weekend, Thursday and Saturday. Both of which we can walk away with 3 points and be proud of our effort.

We’ll have a great weekend. On another note I’d like to get some responses to the following question. I love to be inspired and inspire others. As an athlete you play in some big games, some that aren’t as big, you motivate yourself to be better and exceed expectations. So, to every reader: What has someone shared with you that has inspired you? What have you shared with someone to motivate them? Coaches and captains, what are some things you’ve done to inspire your team? If you have stories, poems, quotes, or anything please share! You can comment directly on this entry or respond to joshpatino@yahoo.com and in the subject area put “Inspiration.” Can’t wait to hear from you!Tweet

Jarom Jordan

Click here for PDF Game Notes

PROVO, Utah (June 21, 2010) — BYU will attempt to win back-to-back games for the first time this season, on the road this week.  The Cougars play at Fresno on Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m. PT and at Lancaster on Saturday, June 26 at 5 p.m. PT

Thursday?s game will be be broadcast, tape delayed locally in Fresno on Telemundo at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 26.

“We are anxious to get out and play again,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “We have proven to play well on the road and we will need to play our best to get points in Fresno.  It was a disappointing loss at home to Lancaster and I am sure we will be motivated to see Lancaster.”

The Cougars will meet Fresno for the first time this season while Saturday?s match with Lancaster will be the second meeting of the season.  BYU is 2-5-2 with 8 points and sits in eighth place in the southwest division.

“Every game is a must win situation for us now,” said junior forward, BJ Pugmire.  “If we want to salvage anything from this season we have to start scoring some goals and winning games.  Fresno and Lancaster are both winnable games, and it?s crucial that we get positive results this weekend.”

Kip Critchlow and the Cougars need to nab six points on the road this weekend. (BYU Photo)

BYU is 3-3 all-time against the Fresno Fuego, having won three of the last four meetings.  Fabricio Codeceira and Milton Blanco lead the Fuego with four goals each this year.  Fresno boasts a win over 2009 PDL Champion, Ventura County and ties with Hollywood and Los Angeles.  The Fuego is 3-4-2 with 11 points and in fifth place in the southwest division.

The Cougars look to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Lancaster Rattlers on May 22 at home.  BYU is 1-1-1 all-time versus the Snakes who are 2-5-3 this season with nine points and in seventh place.  Andres Bueno leads Lancaster with six goals, followed by Miguel Barrera with five.

Last weekend BYU beat Southern California 2-1 on Friday and then lost 3-0 to division leading, Orange County on Saturday.  BYU will drive to Fresno Wednesday through the night and return early Sunday.

QUICK FACTS
Who: BYU Cougars vs. Fresno Fuego
When: Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m. PT
Where: Chukchansi Park in Fresno, CA
TV: Tape delayed broadcast on Saturday, June 26 at 9:30 a.m. on Telemundo Fresno

Who: BYU Cougars vs. Lancaster Rattlers
When: Saturday, June 26 at 5 p.m. PT
Where: Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, CATweet

Robbie Bullough produced a couple of videos for BYUtv, shown below.  The first is the entire roster in alphabetical order, on camera.  BYUtv edits this to show the starters for each broadcast.  The second video is P.I.G. soccer style with BJ Pugmire and Toni Niccoli.

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

With 4 of our remaining 7 games at home, there’s still a real possibility of making the playoffs. It’s going to take a great effort and we’ll need to overcome our biggest obstacle which is simply confidence and belief in ourselves. We’ve proven  that we can compete with the best teams in our division, but can we finish balls when we need to and get on a roll with a few wins?

I know the players aren’t satisfied with the first half of the season, and their work rate has been good both at practice and on the game field. However, to turn the switch from merely being a good team to a great team, we’ll need a few special players to rise up and make a difference. During our few days of preparation before we leave for Fresno, we’ll compete for starting positions 1-11, everyone is going to have to earn their spot. That should make for a highly competitive atmosphere at practice.Tweet

Jarom Jordan

BJ Pugmire hit the crossbar, Saturday night. (BYU Photo)

PROVO, Utah (June 19, 2010) — In a game featuring a combined six cautions and one ejection, the Orange County Blue Star kept their undefeated record intact Saturday night by beating BYU, 3-0. The Blue Star is now 8-0-3 while BYU drops to 2-5-2, losing its third home game in four tries.

“Our guys really worked hard,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins. “I feel bad for them. We’ve got a lot of good goal scorers. They are not great goal scorers but you get a little tight in a game like this. You want it so badly and we just missed a couple sitters there that we normally would put away.”

Blue Star forward, Amani Walker, scored his league-leading 12th goal of the season in the 28th minute on a backwards flick on the ground from teammate, Cito Soriano. In the 32nd minute BYU junior forward, BJ Pugmire shot a rocket outside the right side of the box that hit the crossbar after a finger tip save from Orange County keeper, Patrick McLain. Soriano changed the game with his earlier assist but more with red card in the 38th minute after an attempted elbow at BYU defender, James Bindrup’s head. Playing up a man for the final 52 minutes, BYU had a bevy of attacking chances in the second half.

In the 62′ Brit Osborne delivered a beautiful cross that Zach De Francis headed at goal only to see it ricochet from McLain to a Matt Rider shot which was deflected by a defender, and KC Whitworth blasted it over the goal, out of play. The Cougars couldn’t convert any of their 13 shots while the Blue Star added two short handed, counter attack goals by Celso Alvarez in the 80th minute and Christian Ramirez in the 90th minute. Both scored their first goals of the season.

The Cougars will now prepare to travel, by bus to Fresno next week to play the Fuego on Thursday, June 24.

Postgame Notes
-Miss the game? Watch it again on www.byu.tv for up to two weeks after the airdate
-High School teammates and fellow freshman Matt Rider and Pedro Vasconcelos started together in the midfield
-BYU is now 0-8-3 all-time against Orange County

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