PROVO, Utah (July 8, 2010) — Hollywood overpowered BYU, Thursday night en route to a 3-1 victory against the Cougars.  Hollywood (8-2-2) extends its winning streak to seven games while BYU (3-8-2) ensures itself of a sub-.500 season.

“I am a little disappointed we gave up three goals,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “We had a decent chance in the second half.  I thought our game plan was pretty good. Giving up that first goal in the first half was pretty tough.  Our only goal in the first half was to keep zero on the board.  We were hoping to win this game, 1-0.  We had to open up the game a little more.  We got one but the game plan didn’t work out perfectly.”

Tyler Christiansen scored his first goal as a Cougar, Thursday night. (BYU Photo)

The Hitmen’s leading scorer, Jaime Chavez scored his eighth goal of the season in the 39th minute on a short cross inside the six-yard box from Oscar Sims to open the scoring.  The Hitmen added a second goal in the 72nd minute via substitute Esaul Mendoza on a pass from Jaime Chavez.  It appeared that Chavez hit the ball with his hand but no call was made.

Down 2-0, the Cougars did make it interesting in the 79th minute off a corner kick from Britton Osborne.  The ball hit Hollywood goalkeeper, Jose Miranda in the hands, bounced free to Kip Critchlow who tapped it at goal, deflected off a Hollywood defender, and Tyler Christiansen put it away for his first career goal as a Cougar to make it 2-1.

Three minutes later in the 82nd, BYU defender, Drew Van Wagenen was called for a foul on Jaime Chavez in the penalty area that Rene Corona scored down the middle on the penalty kick to put it away, 3-1.

“Our guys know we’re playing good teams,” said Watkins.  “They know we’re playing fairly well.  So to their credit they keep their heads up and keep working hard which is really an impressive quality and I hope really provides us with a good finish to our season.”

BYU plays 2009 Premier Development League Champion, Ventura County Fusion on Saturday at 8 p.m. MT in Provo.  The game will be broadcast, tape delayed on BYUtv and www.byutv.org/live at 10 p.m. MT.

Scoring Summary
39′   Hollywood: Jaime Chavez (Oscar Sims)
72′   Hollywood: Esaul Mendoza (Jaime Chavez)
79′   BYU: Tyler Christiansen (Kip Critchlow)
82′   Hollywood: Rene Corona (PK)

Postgame Notes
-Freshman defender, Junior Lartey played his first game as a Cougar
-Tyler Christiansen scored his first career goal
-Kip Critchlow leads the Cougars with four assists
-Brady Marshall was slated to start but hurt his ankle yesterday and Zach De Francis got his first start of the year
-Pedro Vasconcelos suffered a mild MCL sprain and is doubtful for Saturday
-BYU is now 1-7-1 when the opponent scores first and 1-6-1 when trailing at the half
-The Cougars are now mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and guaranteed a losing record

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.

I talked to head coach, Chris Watkins; senior forward, Zach De Francis; and senior defender, Drew Van Wagenen on Tuesday.

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

Click here for the game notes PDF

PROVO, Utah (May 3, 2010) — The BYU men’s soccer team will begin the 2010 Premier Development League season this Saturday, May 8 on the road against the Orange County Blue Star.  The game begins at 5 p.m. (PT) at Concordia University in Irvine, California.

PREVIEWING THE COUGARS
Eight starters return this season, including goal keeper, Bryan Black, veteran defenders, KC Whitworth and Drew VanWagenen, midfielders Brent Jensen and Britt Osborne, as well as forwards Zach De Francis, Brady Marshall, and BJ Pugmire. The Cougars lost seven players to graduation, including All-PDL western conference honorable mention midfielder, Richie Bindrup. BYU welcomes back five returned missionaries and seven freshman will join the team out of high school in June after their graduations.

2009 REVIEW
BYU finished 7-5-4 overall, in fourth position in the southwest division and just one spot out of the playoffs. Despite some major injuries the Cougars defeated Southwest Division champion, Hollywood Hitmen, 1-0 and tied eventual PDL champ, Ventura County 2-2.

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. Orange County Blue Star
When: Saturday, May 8 at 5 p.m. PT
Where:  Concordia University (Irvine, CA)

Senior forward, Zach De Francis and the Cougars open the PDL season this Saturday at Orange County.