Cougars Battle Rattlers, Wind to 1-0 Victory
Brittany Eads
(310) 804-7245
britteads@gmail.com
Daniel Turnbull
Provo, Utah (May 9, 2009) — The BYU men’s soccer team scored its only goal early in its Saturday game, but made its stand as the Cougars (1-0) defeated the Lancaster (Calif.) Rattlers (1-1) in a game where both teams not only fought to overcome each other, but weather conditions as well.
“The wind made play a bit sloppy for both sides,” BYU head coach Chris Watkins explained. “But we pulled it together and played a great game. I’m proud of the work we did tonight.”
Forward Zach DeFrancis sparked the Cougars’ win when he pushed the ball up to fellow offender Steve Fellows, who broke away for a clean shot that sailed into the Rattlers’ net 19 minutes into the match.
The Rattles best opportunity to score came with under two minutes left, but Cougar goalkeeper Bryan Black swatted the ball over the net after an opposing player headed the ball off of a corner kick.
Watkins was pleased with how aggressive the Cougars were on offense, but says there’s work to be done on the other side of the field.
“We did a great job tonight of being available on offense,” Watkins concluded. “We connected and put pressure on the opponent. We do need to work on keeping the opponent from getting the ball behind us, but overall we did a great job tonight.”
BYU’s next season game is May 16 against the Los Angeles Legends with its first home game May 21 against the Ventura County Fusion.
