PROVO, Utah (June 23, 2011) — Tied 1-1 into stoppage time, the Ventura County Fusion scored a header in the 92nd minute to win 2-1 against BYU on Thursday night. With the win the Fusion take over first place of the southwest division in the PDL while the Cougars are still winless at home.

“I was incredibly disappointed in our organization on the last goal they scored,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.

BYU began the game with tremendous offensive energy, puthing Ventura on their heels with attacks at goal. One such moment saw a collision in the Fusion penalty area between BYU’s Garrett Losee and Ventura goalkeeper, Sam Hayden. Hayden required medical attention after 15 minutes on the pitch, was carted off, and taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Backup forward, Jochem Graf volunteered to play goalie since the Fusion didn’t travel a backup. It created 11 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the half.

After a scoreless 60 minutes, the Fusion struck first off a corner kick from Danny Barrera. After the intial service bounced in the box and left the penalty area, Gyasti Zardes scored his first goal for Ventura County off a rebound from the crossbar.

In the 81st minute, BYU freshman forward, Winston Sorhaitz scored the equalizer after a Jantzen Romney shot was blocked. The game marked Sorhaitz first start for BYU just a month after his high school graduation. “He deserves that goal,” said Watkins. “He’s certainly worked hard enough for chances and that was a well deserved goal.”

It appeared BYU might take the lead in the 88th minute when a ball was passed into the Fusion penalty area but BYU reserve forwards, Jace Green and David Gates were in the same space and couldn’t deliver a good shot on goal.

Two minutes into stoppage time, Ventura created a corner where Jacob Hustedt lofted in a ball on the far post and found Daniel Steres on a header for the go ahead goal and game-winner to make it 2-1.

BYU will play the Los Angeles Legends on Saturday at 8 p.m. mountain time. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and online at byutv.org/live.

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BYU came up short on the road, Friday night. ( Daily Universe)

Jarom Jordan

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, California (June 17, 2011) — In the first ever meeting between the LA Blues 23 and the BYU Cougars, the Blues (3-5-2) beat the Cougars (6-5-2 overall, 1-5-2 PDL) 3-2 on Friday night. BYU now prepares for the Southern California Seahorses Saturday night in La Mirada, California.

“We felt really good about the way we attacked at the start of the game,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins. “Getting a couple of goals was good for us.”

The Cougars jumped out to to a 2-0 lead after just 25 minutes. The quickest goal of the 2011 season came in the first minute when Toni Niccoli dribbled down to the end line, sent in a cross inside the box and BJ Pugmire scored his team leading, third goal of the year for a 1-0 lead. In the 25th minute BJ Pugmire assisted Garrett Losee for his first ever PDL goal as a Cougar. However that lead wouldn’t last.

The Blues scored three unanswered goals in the 35th, 48th, and 70th minutes off scrambles following free kicks from outside the penalty area. It was the third win of the season and second in a row for LA.

“We were disappointed and frustrated to work so hard and not get a result,” said Watkins.

BYU will play the Southern California Seahorses tomorrow night which is the second meeting in eight days. Last Saturday in Provo, Southern California won 3-1.

POSTGAME NOTES
MULTIPLIES OF TWO
Two goals in one game is the first time the Cougars have scored multiple goals in a game this season

“GO”AL AWAY
BYU gave up a total of seven goals in the first three games, recorded two consecutive shutouts, and has given up eight goals in the last three games.

THREE IS THE LEAD
Senior, BJ Pugmire now has three goals this season, which is the most on the team. The first two came on penalty kicks.

PART TWO
BYU and the LA Blues 23 will meet in Provo on July 21 in the PDL season finale and final home game for the Cougars. LA Blues 23 competes as a professional team for the first time this year, operating as a reserve squad for the Los Angeles Blues of USL PRO.

HALFWAY THERE
Friday nights game was the eighth game of the season. That is exactly the halfway point of the 16-game, 2011 Premier Development League season. Tomorrow night BYU begins the second half of the season against Southern California.

Follow the Cougars on byusoccer.com and on Twitter (@byusoccer)Tweet

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Losee started against the Fresno Fuego on May 20 in a 3-0 loss in Provo. He played a full 90 minutes and recorded three shots.

Read the PDL release here.Tweet

Scott Heaton and the Cougars look to beat Ogden on Saturday. (BYU Photo)

PROVO, Utah (May 25, 2011) — After Tuesday’s scoreless draw in Provo, the BYU Cougars and Ogden Outlaws will meet again this Saturday at Bonneville High School at 6 p.m. in the second of four meetings this season. Both teams are 0-2-2 in PDL play while BYU is 5-2-2 overall.

BYU leads the series 15-2-2 and won five in a row before Tuesday’s scoreless tie. BYU has outscored Ogden 9-2 in the last six meetings. The Cougars have never lost in Ogden, going 8-0-1 and have outscored Ogden, 13-3. The two teams are tied for fifth place with two points each in the Southwest Division of the PDL.

UP NEXT

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“It was a really good group, really deep,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.  “We settled on 22 we are very happy with.  I’m excited to get to work with them.”

The roster includes nine returners from last year’s PDL roster, eight returned missionaries, two freshman who joined the team in the fall and three players who made the fall team and made Saturday’s final cut.

BYU’s five incoming freshman who are currently in high school will join the 22 when they graduate in June.  Two more returned missionaries, Jace Green and Mckay Corbett, will also join the team in April and May.

“It’s a very good class (of returned missionaries),” said Watkins.  “It’s a good group coming back.”

BYU’s spring exhibition schedule features a trip to UNLV at the end of March and a week in Puerto Rico in April.

“We’re young, there’s no doubt about that,” added Watkins.  “I’m excited.  We had a good fall with the core of this group who did a really good job of playing quickly, smart, and as a team.”

2011 PDL Roster
Connor Bassett
Colby Bauer
James Bindrup
Will Burton
Tyler Christiansen
Doug Clark
Cory Cosgrave
Easton Folster
Garrett Gee
Sterling Hancock
Scott Heaton
Jonathan Junca
Matt Kimball
Junior Lartey
Garrett Losee
Ethan Meyer
Mike Moreno
Toni Niccoli
BJ Pugmire
Jantzen Romney
Lance Smith
Derek Taylor

Incoming Freshman
Dallin Cutler
Josh Hunter
Trevor Lesueur
Jerry Dearden
Winstron Sorthaitz

Watch an interview with Chris Watkins and two videos from the photo shoot, Saturday night in the Indoor Practice Facility on campus.

Follow the Cougars on:
Official Website-www.byusoccer.com
Twitter-www.twitter.com/byusoccer
YouTube-www.youtube.com/byumensoccerTweet

“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

The news of the morning came from recently returned missionary, Zach Dupaix who split his head opener and went to the hospital for stiches after he accidentally ran into James Bindrup.  There’s nothing like “welcome home” present like that.

Check out an audio interview with sophomore midfielder, Doug Clark.

Senior defender, Drew Van Wagenen waves to the camera as the team sprints at practice.

Listen to an audio interview with assistant coach, Chad Sackett.

PROVO, Utah (Feb. 25, 2010) — Day one of the morning portion of open tryouts concluded for the BYU men’s soccer team in the Indoor Practice Facility on campus. The tryout featured 99 players from 14 different states and four countries who competed from 6-9 a.m. this morning.

Players attended tryouts from 6-9 a.m. this morning in the Indoor Practice Facility on campus.

The players scrimmaged 8v8 most of the morning session. The first cuts will be posted after tryouts tonight from 4-6 p.m. at the RB Turf Field.

“It went pretty well,” said assistant coach, Chad Sackett. “In the morning tryout we are usually looking for guys that we kind of know aren’t going to make it. It’s tricky too because we want to get a good look at the guys we want to keep but we also want to cut it down to games that are a little more manageable.

“It’s surprising each year I’ve been involved, how much better the players are.”

The team will select 21 players to begin practice on Monday in preparation for the Premier Development League season. That does not include incoming freshman who will join the team following high school graduation this summer.

Today
4-6 p.m. (Richards Building Turf)

Friday, Feb. 26
6-9 a.m. (Indoor Practice Facility)
4-6 p.m. (Richards Building Turf)

Saturday, Feb. 27
4-6 p.m. (Richards Building Turf)
10 p.m.-12 a.m. (Indoor Practice Facility)

Stay posted to www.byusoccer.com for the latest from tryouts and other team news.

The roster will be finalized Saturday night and posted on the team blog soon thereafter.Tweet