Thursday, May 24, 2007

PDL in Provo, Utah

In addition to Real Salt Lake and the Ogden Outlaws, there’s a third Utah soccer team to keep our eyes on. Like the Outlaws, the BYU Cougars soccer team plays in the PDL. Last year’s side played quite well, ending their season on penalty kicks in the playoffs after placing second in the Northwest division.

Nine starters from last year’s team have returned, so they hope to do well again this year. They’re off to a good start (2-1-0) and have home games this Friday and Saturday (the 25th and 26th) against the Yakima Reds and the Spokane Spiders.

Their first three games were on a road trip through the Pacific Northwest:
  • On May 17th, they beat the Cascade Surge 2-1 in Oregon. BYU’s goals came in the 4th minute (scored by Jake Cavanaugh off of a Morgan Gilliam free kick) and in the 12th minute (scored by Curtis Graham).
  • On May 19th, they lost 0-2 to the Tacoma Tide.
  • On May 21st, they beat the Abbotsford Rangers 2-0. Tyson Miller scored first (in the 13th minute), having intercepted an Abbotsford pass. Britt Osborne scored BYU’s other goal in the 37th minute, completing a cross from David Clark.

The game against Abbotsford was also played without a their full roster. Morgan Gilliam had to sit out due to a red card earned in Tacoma. Two other players, Brock Trejo and Steve Magleby, were unavailable as they’d been invited to play with the RSL reserves in Dallas.

This schedule means that BYU will have played their first five games in a ten day span—that’s a lot of soccer. Go Cougs!

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