By DAVID FUHRIMAN
In preparation for the upcoming national club championships, the BYU men’s soccer team spent its last practice intensively reviewing the skills and strategy of … kickball?
“It’s a team tradition that we have a kickball game at the last practice of the year,” Head Coach Chris Watkins said. But the game was also an indication of how comfortable the players are with each other and with their chances of coming home with their second straight national club championship.
“We just feel like we can win it all, and we’ll be disappointed if we don’t,” junior midfielder Jeremy Bailey said. “I think we have a really good chance. If we go down there and play well as a team, we should come back with a victory.”
“We feel like we’re at the top of our game right now,” sophomore defender Nathan Morris said. “We also want to use this tournament as a springboard into next season, because most of our guys are coming back.”
BYU definitely has momentum going into the tournament. The Cougars have won their last four games in rather convincing fashion, including a win over Utah State on Saturday afternoon with three starters out of the game. Freshman sweeper Dax Cuthbert, a starter for virtually the entire year, is out for the rest of the season, but the team feels it has the ability to keep the defense as solid as it was during the year.
“I think our main strength is our team defense,” Bailey said. “When we play well defensively as a team is when we look the strongest.”
Morris echoed Bailey’s comments. “It’ll be different without Dax back there, but I think our defense will still be solid.”
Some of the most competitive teams at the tournament will be the University of Texas, Penn State, North Carolina and Texas A&M. BYU’s first opponent will be Texas A&M, a team that beat last year’s runner-up, Baylor, in this year’s regional tournament.
The games will begin on Thursday and run through Saturday, with BYU possibly playing six games in that three-day stretch.
Watkins feels this year’s team, though different in its strengths and experience, is just as competitive as last year’s squad.
“We don’t have the individual skill as last year’s team, but as a team we play a lot better together than last year. I like our chances, that’s for sure,” Watkins said. “We don’t have a player we can go to if we’re down in the last couple minutes like we did last year, but we hope we’ll be able to put away teams early and we won’t have to worry about that.”
BYU’s results at the tournament are updated on the website www.nirsa.org, the official website of the national club tournament.
