By Brenna Jackson
The BYU men”s soccer team had its sixth shutout of the season against the Yakima Reds Saturday, after tying the Tacoma F.C., 0-0, Friday (June 16, 2006).
The Cougars return home from the weekend”s away games with enough points to guarantee they keep their No. 1 spot in the Northwest Division.
“We come out of the weekend with four points,” head coach Chris Watkins said. “We”re 7-1. We”re still in first place. It was our third game in four days and we were able to play well and win.”
Friday”s game against Tacoma was controlled by the Cougars, but they were unable to successfully put any balls in the net.
“We played well,” BYU midfielder Travis Winn said. “We had a lot of progressions. We out shot them by a lot, but we just couldn”t put them in the top of the net. It was an unlucky game.”
Although BYU is still missing several of its starting offensive lineup due to injuries obtained the last couple of weeks, its bench players stepped up and out shot Tacoma 16-7.
On Saturday the Cougars stepped it up, beating the Yakima Reds 2-0. Winn had a huge game, scoring both of the evening”s goals.
“Tonight was a special night,” Watkins said. “Travis Winn scored both goals and both of them were absolutely spectacular.”
The first goal came when Winn scored off a scissor kick from 18 yards back.
“The ball was in the air,” Winn said. “I saw it and it was like, I might as well take a whack at it. I hit it and it went in the right corner.”
The night”s second goal was made when defender Cameron Lamb passed the ball through his defender”s legs to Winn. For the second time in the game, Winn shot the ball while in the air, finding the net in the same corner as before.
The Cougars” defense proved its strength again with another shutout. They lead the league in least goals allowed with four. The Abbotsford Rangers are second, allowing nine goals, more than double the Cougars.
“We just played well on the field, offensively and defensively,” defender Clay Christenson said. “Defense played extremely well. We didn”t give them many shots on goal. Our team defensively is pretty tough. We”ve only had four goals scored against us this season out of 10 games.”
BYU is now 7-1-1. It plays again this weekend in Colorado for its final two away games of the season.
