BYU Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his thoughts about the team “From the Box”.

Saturday night was great, a well deserved three points for the men in blue. What I was most impressed with was our finishing, we finally put balls in the back of the net. In fact, Doug Clark’s goal was one of the finest I’ve ever personally witnessed. Doug has really done a nice job for us a left back. He’s a dynamic weapon going forward, while working very hard defensively to make sure we don’t give anything up.

It’s time to move forward, really move forward and put a winning streak together. With a week of preparation before our next match, we have plenty of time to improve as a team while riding the confidence we gained on Saturday night. A ‘good’ problem we currently have is the number of players earning more minutes and proving they deserve to be on the field. Unfortunately, only 11 can be rewarded with a start and just a handful more will enter the match so I’m fully anticipating the most competive week of practice we’ve had all year. Back to work on Tuesday, Go Cougs!Tweet

BYU Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his thoughts about the team “From the Box”.

Several good things happened this weekend in California. First off, Doug Clark slid into the starting line up on the back line which provided a nice offensive threat. Doug has great vision of the field and can play a dangerous ball forward, while also helping to establish possession with his skill on the ball. Another positive note was the bounce back from the team after a tough loss on Friday night. I can honestly say that I’ve never been more proud of our team this year than on Saturday night after the 0-0 draw with the Seahorses.

The energy and effort was fantastic all night, despite having played 90 minutes the night before, while the Seahorses were completely fresh from not having a game during the week. Both teams had plenty of opportunities and Cory Cosgrave came up with huge saves for us. Despite not putting a goal away, we were clearly more aggressive and confident as we played forward and walking off the field after 90 minutes was a proud moment for our team. We would have loved to win with a goal, but the improvement from Friday to Saturday night was awesome. Obviously the next step is to finish our opportunities and luckily we have a quick turnaround with our game this Thursday night against Ventura. Go Cougs!Tweet

BYU Assistant Coach, Clay Christenson gives his thoughts about the team “From the Box”.

After a week of well-deserved rest, it’s back to work in preparation for the biggest weekend of the season. With two games and six points on the line, the team will need to be focused on doing whatever it takes to get those points. Even players that don’t get many minutes play a vital role in the team’s preparation. A constant theme during training sessions is ‘to compete.’ We want every player competing for every ball in every situation, no exception.

Every player is anxious to prove themselves, right now there are even a few starting positions that are up for grabs so this week should be highly competitive as we prepare for Friday night. Go Cougs!Tweet

Saturday was a great night for the team. The win against Ogden wasn’t pretty, but well deserved for the hours and effort of preparation. Probably more important is that we head into a week-long break on a positive note, which will bring more confidence when we return.

The week-long break has interesting implications for the players. For starters, and players who play significant minutes each week, it’s a welcome break to heal and recover. Although, some fitness and ball work is required. However, players who are trying to break off the bubble and either jump into the starting line up or earn playing time, it’s a real opportunity to work hard and improve. With two home games the week we return, we’ll have a great chance to climb the standings and battle for a playoff spot.

Go Cougs!Tweet

It was a very difficult loss on Friday night, and I know the team is anxious to move forward and play again tomorrow against Ogden. It’s important to quickly learn from mistakes and move on to the next game, especially early in the season. As a staff, we constantly remind our players to be confident, even if they miss an opportunity to score or tackle a ball, forget about the past and move on to the next opportunity.

At Monday morning’s practice, the team spent time watching film, then working on a few changes for tomorrow night and it was clear how motivated the players were to prove themselves and get a win tomorrow. Go Cougs!Tweet

This week the team will be extremely anxious to play the Fresno Fuego on Friday night, just one week after we lost 2-0 in Fresno. For 70 minutes both teams competed at an unbelievably high level, but in the end Fresno broke down our defense first and I’m sure the guys are excited to get a second chance this weekend.

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It’s been a great preseason. Not only have the players worked extremely hard, but they’ve had good match results. Of course not much of that matters when they hit the field Thursday night against the Fresno Fuego, but everyone is excited to prove themselves this year in the Premier Development League. The team has been working on fitness and training since January, so the season is definitely a nice welcome for the guys.

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We’re already into the last few practices of the fall season, but we’ve seen great improvement from just a few weeks ago when we started. During the first two exhibition games we’ve attacked well and racked up around 40 shots, but we’ve struggled with really putting those quality opportunities in the back of the net. Finishing has been a priority this week for us and will continue to be with the remaining practices.

If we can put a ball in the back of the net early in the first half,  it changes the whole dynamic of the game. We can relax, and really let the flow of the game take over. In contrast, if we wait to score, the pressure continues to build and if the game is 0-0 with 10 minutes left, anyone can win. The players are doing a nice job bringing a competitive spirit to practice, clearly they’re excited every day to prove themselves. They’ll have two more practices to try to jump into the starting 11.  It should be a great few days of practice.Tweet

Everyone is excited for Friday night’s kickoff against USU and we’re anxious to watch our younger players showcase their talent. During the few fall practices we’ve had the guys have fought to earn a spot on the field this weekend and if things go well we’ll have a generous rotation so we can get a look at a lot of them.

One of the downsides to having so few practices is we haven’t had a lot of time to gel as a team and know how to play together. The talent and effort are there, and we’re hoping that the chemistry also comes together, but much of that will depend on the players themselves. We only have a few practices to go before our first game, and we’ll put the players into as many difficult scenarios as possible to help foster as much cohesiveness as possible.Tweet

The tryout went well.  It’s difficult when you have 50 players show up to prove themselves and they only have two hours to do it. The good news is that the quality of our team continues to improve, but the bad news is that we have to turn away a lot of good players.

The fall season is very important for our program. Not only is it a time to prepare and develop younger talent, but it’s a great opportunity for our guys to gain experience against quality opponents. We want to develop winners, the best players will be on the field and because the season is so short, the players who’ve worked hard in the off season will show well.Tweet