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

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

PROVO, Utah (March 26, 2010) — The BYU men’s soccer team will head south on I-15 this weekend to play the UNLV Rebels in Las Vegas in preparation for the Premier League Development season on Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m. pacific time.

The game will be played at Johan Soccer Stadium.  Admission is free.  The BYU women’s team will also play UNLV, at 9 a.m.

The Cougars defeated Mesa State twice last Saturday 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.

“It was a good chance for us to try some new things out,” said coach, Chris Watkins.  ”We are excited to measure our progress again this week.  Last week we were able to keep the ball pretty well with only three midfielders.  We’ll see how we do against a little better competition.  It’s early but we are training well.”

PREVIEWING THE COUGARS
The Cougars begin the PDL regular season May 8 at the Orange County Blue Star before returning to Provo for its first home against the Los Angeles Legends on May 21.

2009 REVIEW
BYU finished 7-5-4 overall, in fourth position in the 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. Seven starters return this season, including goal keeper, Bryan Black, veteran defenders, KC Whitworth and Drew VanWagenen, and forwards Zach DeFrancis, Brady Marshall, and BJ Pugmire. The Cougars lost seven players to graduation, including All-PDL Western Conference Honorable Mention, Richie Bindrup.

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: Brigham Young University vs. University of Nevada-Las Vegas
When: Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m. MT
Where: Johan Soccer Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada

Senior defender, KC Whitworth and the Cougars will play UNLV in a pre-season game Saturday at 11 a.m.