Men's soccer takes on UVU

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The BYU men’s soccer team hosts its last home game of the fall season Saturday night, competing against cross-town rival Utah Valley University.

The men hope to usher a good crowd this weekend through their social efforts and promise of a good game.

“I plan on telling everybody about it,” sophomore goalkeeper Brian Hale said. “Talking about it, being open about it, letting everyone know in our classes and just bringing our friends and family.”

The coaching staff counts on the men to furnish their own crowd and believe having a solid crowd presence is rewarding for the team.

“It’s dependent on our guys here, everyone that’s in school and on campus,” assistant coach Hugh Vanwagenen said. “We leave that up to the guys a lot; they’re the ones that are playing, so it’s up to their efforts and they can reap the rewards if they put a little effort into it.”

After last week’s shutouts of 4-0 and 16-0 on their double header, the team shouldn’t have too much difficulty gaining some spectators.

“We’ve been playing really well,” sophomore Jonathan Junca said. “So I think by virtue of putting on a good show for the fans that will bring them out again.”

While the men’s soccer team won last weekend against the University of Utah 4-0, this weekend it’s up against another team that was able to take down Utah as well.

“It should actually be a really good game,” Vanwagenen said. “(UVU) beat Utah 3-2, and we beat Utah, but that was a tough game for us. We’re expecting this one to be even tougher. It should be the best game of the fall season for us.”

Learning from what few mistakes were made last weekend, the Cougars are bolstering up their defensive line in preparation for the Wolverines.

“We’re really trying to make sure our back defensive line is in an organized group and that they’re not playing as individuals,” Vanwagenen said. “Utah caught us a couple of times not playing as a unit, so we’ve emphasized that a little bit this week as well. We want to make sure that they’re working together opposed to as individuals on that back line.”

The men want to take the success from last weekend and push it on through this weekend  to close out their last home game of the fall season.

“(We want) a win,” Hale sad. “A shutout, to progress going forward into next year’s season.”

BYU goes head to head with UVU Saturday at 7 p.m. on BYU’s South Field.

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