By Joseph Evans
The defending national club champion men”s soccer team hosts the Utah State Aggies, Saturday Sept. 28 at Southfield.
The Cougars are now 3-0 after their blowout victory over Southern Utah last Friday Sept. 20.
“Utah State should be better competition than last week,” said freshman goalie Brandon Gilliam. “We are continuing to work on our team chemistry and improving day by day.”
BYU defeated Utah State twice last season, but the Aggies took the Cougars to a rare overtime game last season and eventually lost in a golden goal situation.
“They have good players and are very organized,” head coach Chris Watkins said. “They are a very physical team and really come to play us tough.”
“It”s going to be a physical, physical, physical match,” senior forward Brandon Leroy said. “We have to get a quick goal within the first 10 minutes to kill their confidence. If we let them hang in there with us, their morale will carry them through for a close game.”
The Cougars have been plagued by injuries early in the season. Three players have been out for a month including team captain Brad Peterson and starter Ben Tanner.
“The loss of players has affected our depth, but allows our other players to get some much needed playing time.” Watkins added. “It”s tough to build a good chemistry with your best 11 players when some of them are injured.”
Senior midfielder Nate Lowe has been stepping up during the absences of the other. Lowe scored two goals against the Thunderbirds last Friday.
“Nate Lowe is coming along good,” Watkins said. “He is the fastest player on the team and the fans love his speed.”
The game will be broadcast live in Spanish by Henrique Corona on Radiounica 1460 AM.
The game will be recorded for future broadcast on Telemundo. Last Friday”s game against SUU will be shown Saturday at noon on Telemundo.
