The BYU men’s soccer team has yet to lose a game and won its sixth-consecutive of the season against Weber State 3-1 Wednesday at South Field.
Star forwards Cameron McLaughlin and Tanner Whitworth got the scoring going early for the Cougars with strikes in the 11th and 21st minutes.
Whitworth played an excellent ball through to McLaughlin who was able to find the back of the net easily.
Payden Pemberton then played a cross into the box and Whitworth headed the ball in to put the Cougars up 2-0 early on.
The Weber State Wildcats had a few opportunities in the first half but weren’t able to get past a stalwart BYU backline.
McLaughlin got his second goal of the night to start off the second half.
In the 49th minute, midfielder Taylor Fankhauser played a ball through the Wildcat defense to McLaughlin, who then slotted one into the bottom right corner of the goal.
In the final third of the game, things began to get a little more intense, with some fouls that both teams felt should have been called and a lot more physical play.
BYU defender Matt Kurtz was taken down in the penalty area and ended up sitting out the rest of the game.
In the 77th minute, Payden Pemberton found himself one-on-one with Weber State’s goalkeeper but was then taken out from behind by a defender. The BYU bench was livid after no foul was called, feeling there should have been a penalty.
Pemberton ended up receiving a yellow card for arguing the no-call.
The frustration and complacency on BYU’s part eventually led to the Wildcats breaking through for a goal in the 87th minute.
The goal kept the Cougars from recording their first home shutout of the season, though they achieved the same feat twice on the road this past weekend.
“For the 86 minutes before that I thought it went really well,” said captain Mitchell Scott. “The most important thing for our team is to just address the fact that we shouldn’t have let the guy get a clean shot off in the first place.”
BYU coach Brandon Gilliam echoed Scott’s sentiment.
“That’s what we have to prevent, from them even getting to that point,” Gilliam said. “A little bit sharper, a little more mentally strong; make the right decisions the last ten minutes and that keeps us clean.”
On the status of Kurtz, Gilliam said, “He’s had a previous knee surgery. We’re hoping that there’s no issues there and that we can get it looked at as quick as we can.”
The Cougars play their final home game of the season Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. MDT against Southern Utah University.
