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

PROVO, Utah (Sept. 16, 2010) — Chris Watkins and the BYU coaching staff announced a 32-player, fall roster today.

“We’re glad to have a few new bodies on the team, guys who will bring some new excitement and energy, and hopefully some added dimension to the team,” said Watkins.

BYU will play a three-game fall schedule with contests with Utah State (Sept. 24), Weber State (Oct. 8), and Utah Valley (Oct. 15).  All three are at the Stadium at South Field in Provo and kickoff at 7 p.m.  The alumni game is set for October 8 at 4 p.m.

“Typically the goal of our fall season is to get our younger players, the guys just off missions or the freshman who just came in, to get them some minutes.  This year we’re doing it a little bit different.  Because we struggled a little bit over the summer, we don’t have the quality to compete in the southwest division (of the Premier Development League) like we’d like to have.  So we’re going to play our primary players a lot more this fall than we have in the past.”

The team retained 17 players from the PDL roster and 10 walked-on. Zach De Francis, Cameron Lamb, and Bryan Black will graduate in April but will not continue to play with the team.  Brady Marshall has moved to California.  The Cougars lose three players to LDS missions in Matt Rider, Pedro Vasconcelos, and Trevor Henderson.  Four seniors graduated from the PDL team in Brent Jensen, Britton Osborne, Drew Van Wagenen, and KC Whitworth.

The Cougars welcome back three returned missionaries to the fold in Dustin Graham, Mike Moreno, and Scott Heaton.

“They’ve got a long ways to go with their fitness, quality, and touch but they bring a lot of excitement and creativity when they get their full fitness back,” said Watkins.   “They will add a lot to our team.”

Freshman Ethan Meyer and Matt Kimball also join the team as the last of the two recruits to finish play with their summer club teams.

The team practiced for the first time this afternoon from 4:30-6:30 p.m. on Haws Field.  BYU will practice and play games through the middle of October and train in preparation for February tryouts for the 2011 PDL team.

Here’s the list in alphabetical order.

Tyler Arens
Connor Bassett
James Bindrup
Tyler Christiansen
Doug Clark
Cory Cosgrave
Kip Critchlow
Thomas Day
Spencer Dunlop
Zack Dupaix
Garrett Gee
Dustin Graham
Sterling Hancock
Scott Heaton
Matt Kimball
Corey Krewson
Matt Kurtz
Junior Lartey
Ethan Meyer
Mike Moreno
Toni Niccoli
Josh Patino
BJ Pugmire
Jaddon Rogers
Jantzen Romney
Lance Smith
McKay Steggell
Nate Stoven
Blake Tillotson
Dallan Turnbull
Scott Whitworth
James Wulfenstein

Guide:
Bold=2010 PDL team members
Underlined=Incoming Freshman Recruits
Italics=Returned Missionaries
Normal Text=Walk-On’sTweet

In 2006, BYUtv produced a documentary, following the BYU men’s soccer team on its pre-season trip to Mexico. The documentary shows the team’s highlights from exhibitions against Pachuca and Clube America, firesides in the community, visiting locals, service projects, and the effect the University and team have on their lives.

Watch it below, on BYUtv Saturday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m., or online at this link.

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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 recordTweet

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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

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

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