By Ben Neilson
In a game in which tempers flared and yellow cards were handed out like parking tickets, the men”s soccer team scratched out a solid 5-2 victory over visiting University of Utah Friday night.
BYU has won five consecutive games, outscoring opponents 28-3 during the streak. The Cougars” record stands at 5-1-0.
The Utes came out aggressive and scored early on a shot by forward Tony Hull just three minutes into the first half.
BYU coaches were not happy.
“We”re a little concerned,” said BYU assistant coach Brian Jolley. “That”s two games in a row that we”ve come out pretty flat and given a team some confidence. That obviously helps them stick with us.”
But Utah”s aggression soon came back to haunt them when Utah substitute Todd Smith argued a call with an official and received a yellow card with 20 minutes left in the first half. Just 13 minutes later Smith had another encounter with the official, and was issued a red card.
When a red card is issued, the offending player is removed from the game and the team is not allowed a substitute. Utah played one man short for the rest of the contest. Utah received two more yellow cards and BYU was tagged with one also.
After several spectacular BYU shots, and equally spectacular saves by Utah goalkeeper Brad Finnigan, the Cougars finally scored with 14 minutes left in the first half when senior forward Brandon LeRoy rebounded a teammate”s missed shot. BYU would never trail again.
BYU coaches were happy with their team”s offense. Goals were scored by LeRoy (two), sophomore forward Matt Affleck, junior forward Brad Peterson, and senior defender Mike Essig.
“We scored five goals,” Jolley said. “Anytime you score five goals you have to be pleased.”
The most impressive goal of the night came late in the first half when Peterson booted the ball from approximately 35 yards out, sending it sailing into the net. BYU junior defender Tom Foster assisted on the goal.
Even though BYU”s offense continues to be extremely potent, head coach Chris Watkins is concerned with his club”s defense. With shutouts as a constant target this season, Utah”s two goals were disconcerting.
“We gave up three shots and they scored on two out of the three,” Watkins said. “They were good shots and there was nothing our goalkeepers could do. But there”s no reason we had to even give up the three shots. This is a good lesson for us. We need to be more efficient and not let teams get any shots off against us.”
Watkins is worried that overconfidence could prove costly to his team in a crucial situation.
“Our guys believe they”re going to win every game, which is good, but they believe that their opponent should just give in,” Watkins said. “The opposition is not going to do that. Unfortunately, we are wanting them to and it”s not realistic.
“I hope we can learn a good lesson from this, because things like this lead to not winning the national championship. We let down for a few seconds and there are two balls in the back of our net,” Watkins said. “If we get unlucky in front of the goal, it could cost us a championship someday.”
While BYU coaches were dissatisfied with their team”s defensive performance, Utah was even more disgruntled. The Utes appear to be counting the days until they meet BYU again in October.
“All I have to say is we still have one more game against you guys,” said Utah head coach Colin Shoell.
BYU played without sophomore midfielder Chad Deshler and junior forward Daniel Yescas. Deshler is suffering from a right ankle sprain and Yescas is recovering from a thigh contusion.
