BYU men's soccer concludes home games with back-to-back wins
The BYU men's soccer team played their last home games of the season this past weekend and left South Field with two more victories under their belt.
The Cougars played Utah State on Friday and Weber State on Saturday, winning the first game 6-0 and the second 4-0.
In their previous matchup against Utah State, the team won 7-0, with five goals scored in the first half and two in the second. The team served up more of the same on Friday, with six goals scored by various players.
The first goal was scored in the eighteenth minute by forward Ryan Tetro. Cameron Pennock made a crucial defensive play in the 32nd minute, preventing Utah State's number 22 from scoring. After a couple of near misses by Brayden Gonder and Ryan Tetro, Gonder put another goal on the board in the 42nd minute, and the Cougars began the second half leading 2-0.
BYU came out swinging in the second half, racking up three more goals in the first twelve minutes. Aaron Jolley scored in the 48th minute, followed by Colton Rouse's two goals in the 53rd and 57th minutes.
When asked what the team discussed during halftime to generate such a quick offensive effort, Gonder said, 'We just talked a lot about finishing our chances because we're a team that gets a lot of chances. If we can be clinical and finish our chances, then we can get results like that.'
Tyler Ashby scored in the 80th minute, leading the Cougars to a final victory of 6-0 against Utah State. While Ashby's normal position is a defender, the entire team rotated positions throughout the game.
'A bunch of the guys are multifaceted,' said Ashby. 'We can play anywhere on the field, so we'll just throw different things at people to see what we can do and see if we can mix it up on them.'
Their strategy of switching positions paid off, as the players looked well rested throughout the game.
'The team's really coming together, building game after game,' said Gonder. 'I think especially with the performance tonight, we showed that we can play solid for a full 90 minutes.'
On Saturday, the team kicked off the night by celebrating their six seniors, Thys Call, Asher Franks, Kyle Cuvelier, Ben Gonzalez, Nathan Mumford and Eric Morris. The seniors quickly demonstrated their skill on the field as Morris put them up 1-0 in the tenth minute of the game.
Morris's goal was almost immediately followed by another goal from Evan Smith in the thirteenth minute. In the 24th minute, Kyle Cuvelier took a penalty kick and scored, once again representing the seniors and sending the team to the second half with a 3-0 lead.
Talmage Woodhouse got their last goal of the night in the 55th minute, celebrating his well-placed shot by dancing with his teammates.
With another solid performance from the Cougars, their season record is now 7-0-1, and they are conference champions for the sixth season in a row. The team hopes to extend their winning streak this week in the last two regular season games.
'I think we really put in the work at practice to where we know how to break down almost any team, and that's a good thing,' said Ashby. 'I'm really proud of the guys for putting in a good effort.'
The men will face off against Weber State again on Oct. 20 and Utah Valley University on Oct. 21. Tune in to their Instagram for live game updates.