Kip Critchlow led the Cougars to victory, Friday night. (Daily Universe)

PROVO, Utah (Sept. 24, 2010) — The BYU men’s soccer team dominated Utah State to the tune of 3-1 on Friday night at South Field in Provo.  The Cougars outshot the Aggies, 21-3 and controlled possession the entire game.

“Our starters were brilliant,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “They did a great job of keeping the ball on every occasion and I’m not sure Utah State crossed the midfield stripe but one time while our starters were out on the field.”

BYU scored three minutes into the game with a Tyler Christiansen goal, curled into the far post from a Doug Clark pass out of the midfield.  The Cougars continued holding the ball all of the first half, finishing another goal in the 42nd minute with a laser inside the near post from Janzten Romney, assisted by BJ Pugmire.  The “Y” added a third goal in the 67th minute from Kip Critchlow who found himself wide open on the back post after a beautiful cross from sophomore, Toni Niccoli.  Utah State got on the board with a score in the 85th minute on a header from a set piece.

Chris Watkins was pleased with BYU’s play as well as the attitude of a team, rebounding from a tough PDL summer season.

“The team looked really excited,” he said.  “You could feel the rhythm was there.  The movement was there.  I think we’re excited to be out there to play.”  “We were pinging the ball really well.  We probably connected 10-12 passes on every possession.”

Sophomore midfielder, Kip Critchlow led BYU in assists as a freshman and continued his great possession play Friday night.

“Kip was the man of the match,” said Watkins continued.  “He controlled everything.  He had the ball the whole game and they couldn’t do anything about it.”

BYU next game is Friday, October 8 at 7 p.m. against Weber State.  The alumni game will be played at 4 p.m. the same day.

“I took a little bit from this than I normally would,” said Watkins.  “I really enjoyed watching the team.  They played with great rhythm.”

Starters
F-Janzten Romney, Blake Tillotson
M-Toni Niccoli, Doug Clark, Kip Critchlow, BJ Pugmire
D-Junior Lartey, James Bindrup, Tyler Christiansen, Ethan Meyer
GK-Cory Cosgrave

Scoring Summary
Min.  Goal                               Assist
3′      Tyler Christiansen          Doug Clark
42′    Janzten Romney            BJ Pugmire
67′    Kip Critchlow                  Toni NiccoliTweet