The BYU men's soccer team hopes to defeat the University of Utah on Friday after the first matchup ended in a 0-0 tie.
Despite the scoreless start to their season, BYU has won each of their other four games this season by at least four goals, its highest scoring game being a 7-0 win against Utah State. The Cougars are also ranked first this week in region six of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association, just ahead of Weber State University and the University of Montana.
Tyler Ashby, a starting defender, said the team has been incorporating different techniques and strategies in practice to better ensure that their second chance against Utah ends in success.
'In practice, we’ve been working a lot in tight spaces and making sure that we’re having quick combinations on the ball, and that means a lot of triangle shapes and a lot of variation of runs,' Ashby said. 'The nice variation of runs makes it so that you can ultimately break down the defense.'
BYU's first game against Utah was played on its home field, but the team will take the fight to their opponents this time around.
'We know that Utah’s field is pretty small compared to a lot of the fields we play on, and it’s on a turf surface, so we’ve practiced on turf all week, and we practice in smaller spaces to be prepared for that. I think that’s going to help us a lot this week to score a lot of goals,' Ashby said.
In its previous game against Utah, the Utes focused heavily on defense, keeping most of their players behind the midfield line to prevent the Cougars from scoring. Ashby believes Utah will try this same strategy again, but he feels BYU is better prepared to handle it after a few weeks of practice.
'We think that a lot of what we have applied in practice, those quick combinations, will be able to break them down. We don’t want to sound cocky, but we’re pretty confident that we can take it to them and win by five or more goals this week.'
For those that can't travel to Salt Lake City to support the Cougars Friday, follow the team's Instagram for live updates.