By Zac Layton
The BYU men”s soccer team was frostbitten early against a dangerous Colorado Springs Blizzard, losing 2-0 at South Stadium Saturday night.
Led by forward Joel Trainer, who scored three goals Friday night against the Ogden Outlaws, the Blizzard came out aggressive, attacking BYU and creating early scoring opportunities.
The first goal came in the 12th minute when Trainer broke away from Cougar defenders and put the ball in the back of the net giving Colorado Springs the early game-winning goal.
“We were a little asleep tonight, obviously, we weren”t quite there,” BYU head coach Chris Watkins said.
The Cougars (9-5-1) looked weary on defense from the start, allowing the Blizzard to penetrate deep into BYU territory often. Watkins attributes his squad”s sluggish performance against the Blizzard to a tough 2-0 loss Friday to the Boulder Rapids Reserve.
“I think we were a little shell-shocked last night and just didn”t play well, and tonight, unfortunately, it carried over for a little while,” he said.
In the second half, BYU came out quickly on offense attacking the Blizzard defenders and pushing the ball. The Cougars gave itself plenty of scoring chances but could not deliver the goal. Its best scoring opportunity came in the 81st minute when freshman forward Brady Marshall”s shot sprayed wide left missing an apparent empty net.
Missed shots have punished BYU lately and that trend continued Saturday. Following the game, BYU has missed 36 consecutive shots.
“Anytime you go 0-for-36 you are going to lose at least one game, if not two or three,” Watkins said.
Defender Morgan Gilliam said miscues on offense were the downfall this weekend.
“We don”t finish our chances,” he said. “We had chances to tie it, but we just didn”t finish our chances.”
The Blizzard was able to capitalize on the Cougars” missed goals in the second half scoring on a brilliant counter-attack from forward Chris Salvaggione.
“We don”t have the best confidence in our teammates, we weren”t organized in the back, we were leaving men open and we just couldn”t get it done tonight,” midfielder Justin Norton said.
BYU has little time to prepare for a grand-scale event Tuesday as they host Coventry City soccer team in a friendly match at 7:30 p.m.
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Meet Coventry City
-Who: Coventry City is one of England”s top professional soccer teams.
-What: Come meet members of the soccer team
-When: Monday, July 10, 11:30 a.m.
-Where: Legends Grille
