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Junior midfielder, Josh Patino gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “On the Pitch”.

July 7, 2010 – The game is tied 1-1 to start the second half, both teams are playing for three very valuable points, the fans are hopeful that the Cougars will get a long awaited win…and most of all the players are trying to change their unfortunate luck this season. That was the feeling in the air as we fought to a well-earned 3-1 victory over the Ogden Outlaws. After being down 1-0 for the majority of the first half we once again proved a rare team characteristic to come back and win. Finally, we were able to finish our scoring opportunities and not just out play the opponent, but also win.

With only three home games remaining each game becomes that much more important. Tomorrow night we take on the division champs, Hollywood Hitmen, and then two days later, Saturday, we face the national champions, Ventura County. Tough weekend? Indeed. Are both great teams? Yes. Can we win? Without a doubt. We fell to Hollywood and tied Ventura at their home. On our last trip to California the team, only the players – no coaches, came together for a short meeting. We talked about what we can do better, where we can improve, what we want out of the remaining games. There is a lot that we can improve on and be better at, but there always will be. One mindset of the team as that we are better at the end of our final game July 17^th than we were when we started the season.

Our hopes of going to the playoffs faded quickly after our final games in California. However that doesn’t mean we don’t have something to prove. We play two of the best teams in the nation over the next three days and we definitely have plenty to play for. We’ve spent a lot of time together lately. We awoke extremely early on Monday, July 5^th, to be in the pre-parade. Quite a few of us are coaching the cub camps together that started yesterday. We’ve watched the World Cup Semifinals together…GO SPAIN! And, of course, we practice together everyday. I think more and more of the guys are becoming comfortable with one another and it’s beginning to show on the field. More confidence in one’s self and trust in our teammate.

The past two days we’ve focused on attacking with creativity and speed, actually getting to the goal and creating opportunities quickly. We had a little tournament yesterday, we had 4 teams of 7 and the team with the most overall points after pool play won. The winners received Jamba Juice after practice. Thanks Coach. Unfortunately, Cameron Lamb and Drew VanWagenen are on our injured list and most likely will not play tomorrow. Cam is our starting right back and hasn’t missed a game all season. He’s out with an ankle injury from the last game. Drew is our center back and is out with a left should injury. Both are recovering well and we all hope they’ll be back for Saturday.

Drew Van Wagenen (above) and Cameron Lamb are questionable this weekend with injuries. (BYU Photo)

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu

Pacific Palisades, CALIFORNIA (June 3, 2010) — The Hollywood United Hitmen defeated the BYU Cougars, 3-0 Thursday night. The Cougars drop to 1-4-1 with the loss and have lost four of five after tying to start the season. Hollywood improves to 3-2-2 and is now tied for second place in the division.

“It’s disappointing not being the better team a lot of times,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins. “The guys certainly worked hard and gave it their best.”

BYU lost 3-0 to Hollywood, Thursday night (BYU Photo)

The score was tied 0-0 at the half with the Cougars controlling possession and shots. In the second half the Hitmen took a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute when Mutala Mohammed scored the eventual game winner.

It was a one-goal game until the 78th minute when Stephen Akers received a long pass on a set piece that he put up and over BYU goalkeeper, Bryan Black. Esaul Mendoza added a goal in the 86th minute. All three goals were the first scores of the season for those players.

“I thought we played well,” said senior midfielder, Brent Jensen. “We pushed through to the end but we need to find that spark to put some goals away and put teams under to start.”

Hollywood out shot BYU 10-6 and recorded eight corners to BYU’s one. The Cougars now prepare for the 2009 PDL Champion, Ventura County Fusion, Saturday at 7 p.m. PT.

Starters:
F: BJ Pugmire (Brady Marshall), Blake Tillotson (Zach De Francis), Toni Niccoli
M: Matt Rider, Brent Jensen (Doug Clark), Kip Critchlow (Pedro Vasconcelos)
D: Cameron Lamb, Drew Van Wagenen, KC Whitworth, James Bindrup (Tyler Christiansen)
GK: Bryan Black

Cards:
BYU-Blake Tillotson (Y)
Hollywood-Edwin Miranda (Y)

Notes:
-1-4-0 is the worst start to a season since 2003 when the Cougars joined the Premier Development League and began the year 1-5-0
-BYU’s active career goal scoring leader, Zach De Francis played for the first time since May 8 after suffering a leg injury
-Hollywood has now defeated BYU 4-0 (‘09) and 3-0 at home. The Cougars won their only game in the series, 1-0 in 2009.Tweet