The BYU Cougars men’s soccer team played the Real Colorado Foxes in an intense game Friday night that ended in a 2-2 draw.
“We were a lot better tonight than we were three weeks ago,” said BYU head coach Chris Watkins. “Jace Green was committed to be better this game. And he was better, not just with the goals, but he was around the ball a lot more. I’m proud of Jace. We wanted to play together. The last 15 minutes of the game is how we want to play. We worked well as a group and worked well together. We have a little different game plan for tomorrow, so I’m curious to see what they have in store. It’s a little unique when you go back to back.”
The Cougars (0-2-2) fell 0-2 to the Foxes (1-1-2) in a game last month.
BYU came out strong when Pedro Vasconeclos found Green in the box to score the first goal of the game in the 10th minute.
Real Colorado had an opportunity to tie the game when it was rewarded a penalty kick in the 21st minute. BYU goalkeeper Brenden Ottman was unable to block the shot, and it was tied 1-1.
With his second goal of the game, Green, a senior midfielder, answered back with a header to the right corner of the net to take back the lead at 2-1. BYU gained momentum and continued to find offensive opportunities.
“Coach was talking about simple things we need to do,” Green said. “We need to get numbers behind the ball. We need to move all together. Both of my goals were similar to what we have done in practice, having the forwards hold the ball and getting the midfielders in the box to score. Another big part is being at the right spot at the right time. The goals just happened to fall my way.”
The Foxes came out into the second half fired up, having just tied it 2-2 before half. The first 20 minutes of the second half were spent with BYU defending.
After 90 minutes and a combined 20 shot attempts, neither BYU nor Real Colorado walked away the victor.
“Tomorrow will definitely be a battle. They play hard. Both teams are not going to want to lose, especially us on our home field,” Green said. “So I think if we keep the same mentality, together on offense and together on defense, and just letting the chips fall as they may, we could be successful. I think today’s tactics worked, so why change them?”
These two teams will face off again at South Field on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (MDT).
