Blake Tillotson and several members of the team will be at Franklin Elementary School (50 South 600 West in Provo) this Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. for a soccer clinic.  They’ll give away mini-soccer balls and tickets to the U-21 Mexican National Team game.  They expect 50 or more kids, ages 8-18 to attend.

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BJ Pugmire will be featured on “Nexos”, a television program on BYU TV International (Spanish) on June 26th at 3 p.m.  If you don’t get the channel, go to their website to watch online for free, live or on demand up to two weeks after the show.  The interview was all in Spanish and is a preview of the season for the team.

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu
801-471-4469

PROVO, Utah (April 26, 2010) — The BYU men’s soccer team will host the U-21 Mexican National Team, Wednesday May 12 in Provo.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Stadium at South Field in Provo, Utah.  The game will be broadcast live, worldwide on BYU Television.  It will also be streamed online, for free at www.byu.tv.  Tickets are $10 for reserved seating and $6 for general admission.   Those can be purchased at Rancho Markets, Utah Community Credit Union, or www.byutickets.com.  BYU expects a sellout.

“It will be a huge event,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “Obviously it will be a great game for us.  There’s no question about their abilities and talents.  They are all full professional players and have been for several years and are the very best of what Mexico has to offer.  It’s a great challenge, opportunity, and platform for our team to play on.  Hopefully we bring out some of the local Latino population that want to come out and watch them play.  Hopefully we will represent ourselves well and have a good night.”

The Mexican under-21 team is second only to the senior national men’s team, which will compete in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.  This is the first time a Mexican national team has played against the BYU men’s team.  It is the first international friendly for the Cougars since defeating the Fijian national team, 3-1 in 2007.

Other national teams to visit Provo are the USA (2005) and El Salvador (2009) senior men’s national teams who used BYU’s facilities to practice for games in Salt Lake City.

PDL SEASON APPROACHES
BYU’s Premier Development League season is almost underway. The Cougars will practice Thursday and Friday of this week, scrimmage Weber State on Saturday at Haws Field and begin afternoon practices next week.  BYU opens on the road at the Orange County Blue Star, May 8.  The first home game is May 21 versus the Los Angeles Legends.

2010 SPRING SEASON REVIEW
BYU is 2-1-1 in spring pre-season play. The Cougars defeated the Mesa State Mavericks twice on March 20 in Grand Junction, Colorado in the team’s first pre-season games. The Cougars won the first game 3-0 on goals from BJ Pugmire (‘13), Zach DeFrancis (‘16), and Brady Marshall (‘56). In the second game the Cougars won 2-1. March 27 BYU tied the UNLV Rebels 0-0 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  April 7, MLS Cup Champion, Real Salt Lake won 6-0 in a scrimmage in Lehi.  In the fall, BYU went 1-1-1, defeating Utah State (2-0), tying Weber State (1-1), and losing to Real Salt Lake (4-1).

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 PDL 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 USL 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. U-21 Mexican National Team
When: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 7 p.m. MT
Where: The Stadium at South Field in Provo, Utah
Tickets:  $10 reserved, $6 general admission
TV: BYUtv or www.byu.tv

BYU will host the U-21 Mexican National Team on May 12 at 7 p.m.

The Cougars continue to play spring pre-season exhibitions in preparation for the 2010 Premier Development League season. So far the Cougars are 2-0-1 with two wins at Mesa State (March 20) and a 0-0 tie at UNLV (March 27). Friday, April 9 BYU will host Dixie at the Stadium at South Field.

Come check out the Cougars almost a month to the day before the start of the 2010 PDL season (May 8 @ Orange County).

BJ Pugmire tweaked his knee at UNLV last Saturday but practiced strong yesterday so it sounds like he’s OK. BJ was highly recruited out of high school, had an outstanding two season in 2004 and 2005 with the team before serving a mission to Mexico. He’s been hampered by two ACL tears (one in each knee) and will be a key contributor up front, especially if BYU plays a 4-3-3 like they are experimenting with right now.

Mr. Pugmire also writes for the Daily Universe (BYU’s school newspaper). You can read a couple of his recent articles at these links.  Ironically he covers several of the extramural sports at BYU, one of which is men’s soccer but he’s in season with rugby and lacrosse.

Rugby suffers hard loss to in-state rival Utah (3/25)

Lacrosse team takes Trek to Canada (3/18)

BYU Rugby to Play Colorado (3/11)

The photo below is of BJ last summer performing tricks in Nicaragua to children in the streets. (Photo by Drew Van Wagenen)

Jarom Jordan
Media Relations Director
jarom.jordan@byu.edu

PROVO, Utah (April 2, 2010) — BYUtv announced it will broadcast seven of the eight home games during the 2010 BYU men’s soccer season. The only home game not televised will be July 3 versus the Ogden Outlaws.

“We are excited,” said head coach, Chris Watkins. “Especially for our fans out of state to be able to follow our team so closely.”

BYU men’s soccer is the first and only team in the Premier Development League to broadcast it’s own games to a live, national television audience. BYUtv is syndicated on cable and satellite TV networks into over 48 million homes on DirecTV, Dish Network, and many cable providers. Click here to find out how to watch the channel in your area. BYUtv can also be viewed online, live, and for free at www.byu.tv.

Home / TV Schedule:

Friday May 21 vs Los Angeles Legends 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Saturday May 22 vs Lancaster Rattlers 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Friday June 18 vs Southern California Seahorses 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Saturday June 19 vs Orange County Blue Star 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Saturday July 3 vs Ogden Outlaws 7 p.m. (Not on TV)

Thursday July 8 vs Hollywood United Hitmen 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Saturday July 10 vs Ventura County Fusion 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

Friday July 16 vs Fresno Fuego 8 p.m. (BYUtv)

BYUtv will broadcast all but one home game in 2010.

If you want to attend the popular BYU soccer camps (girls or boys) there are spots available but they fill pretty fast.  Click on this link to find more information and/or register.

Soccer Camp Registration/Info

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu
Media Relations Director

Thursday night was the first of several cuts. The players played some more 8v8 then ran some intense shuttles. You could tell who had ran them before because several of the current team paced themselves and excelled later rather than peaked early.

Let me at least tell you this: Kip Critchlow is fast.

Tomorrow morning’s tryout is bright and early at 6 a.m. Luckily I just show up at the end of it!

Listen to an audio interview with goal keeper, Bryan Black. He says some fun stuff about the competition in tryouts this year and the easier conditioning at the end of today’s tryouts.

Sophomore, Doug Clark looks to attack at tryouts this afternoon.

Goal Keeper, Bryan Black (in blue on the left) paces himself to make a Usain Bolt-like sprint to the finish.

Chris Watkins and the BYU coaching staff have the "fun" task of getting 99 participants trying out down to 21 (plus the incoming freshman already signed) by Saturday night.

Thursday afternoon's tryout was held on the RB Turf Field.