BYU's Josh Hunter beats his defender. Hunter scored a goal in the first half against San Francisco on Saturday night. (Natalie Stoker)
BYU men's soccer lost 3-2 to SFCFC on Saturday night.
This was the Cougar's second straight game against San Francisco. BYU tied 0-0 with them on Thursday night.
The Cougars' Ethan Meyer had a good look on goal in the 11th minute, but SFCFC's keeper was able to deflect it out of bounds.
BYU had a promising cross in the 20th minute, but once again SFCFC's keeper made a save by grabbing the ball before the cross even landed.
The Cougars' Josh Hunter scored right around the 23:30 mark. Hunter's goal gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
'That's what we've been practicing, get it out to one of the wingers, and I make a diving run into space,' Hunter said. 'Taylor Fankhauser put a perfect ball and I was fortunate enough to finish it.'
BYU's head coach Brandon Gilliam was pleased with the goal and the Cougar's execution to start the game.
'We came out, we started executing really well,' Gilliam said. 'So much so that we found our first goal pretty early on.'
SFCFC scored a penalty kick at 30:00 after a foul from BYU's Meyer. After the conversion of the penalty kick, the score was tied 1-1.
'We were a bit in control of the game and then we got a (penalty kick) thrown on us,' Gilliam said.
Gilliam said the call 'hurt the guys.'
The intensity picked up after San Francisco City's score. A yellow card was accessed to SFCFC at the end of the 32nd minute.
SFCFC scored again around the 39:40 mark giving them a 2-1 lead over the Cougars.
SFCFC nearly scored again about one minute later. They had a shot from the left the side of the field, but BYU's keeper Brenden Ottman managed to block the ball away. SFCFC got the ball back right after Ottman's block, and shot again. The second shot bounced off of the crossbar. After the ball hit the crossbar, the Cougars were able to clear the ball, keeping them out of danger of having San Francisco score again.
BYU finished the half trailing 2-1.
Controversy filled the second half after BYU's keeper Ottman was assessed a red card.
Ottman was given a red card after making contact with an SFCFC player. This contact also gave San Francisco a penalty kick. The Cougar's Pedro Vasconcelos was also given a yellow card.
BYU's backup keeper Trevor LeSueur replaced Ottman in the 66th minute after Ottman's red card.
SFCFC hit the penalty kick at the 68:29 mark.
'We came out second half and they (the Cougars) were fighting again, but we got another (penalty kick) plus a red card and it just killed us,' Gilliam said.
More yellow cards were given out to both BYU and SFCFC throughout the rest of the second half.
BYU had a shot over the crossbar right at the end of the 83rd minute. The Cougar's LeSueur had big save at the end of the 84th minute keeping the Cougars down by only two.
Despite all of the calls that went against them, the Cougars kept fighting.
The Cougar's Jaiden Wagoner scored during stoppage time. About 30 seconds later, BYU almost scored again off of a header. They however were unable to convert.
Despite the Cougars' resiliency, they ran out of time and ended the game down 3-2 to San Francisco.
'Full credit to the players, being down a man, being down two goals, fighting that hard to try to get back into it,' Gilliam said.
Gilliam said that the Cougars will not make adjustments going into next game.
'No adjustments go into next game, obviously just to keep all 11 players on the field and not to draw pk's,' Gilliam said.
The Cougar's next contest will be on Thursday June 2, at 7:00 against the Las Vegas Mobsters on South Field.