BYU Welcomes Utah State Friday for Exhibition Opener
Jarom Jordan
Drew Van Wagenen
PROVO, Utah (Sept. 24, 2009) - The BYU men’s soccer team opens fall exhibition play this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Stadium at South Field versus the Utah State Aggies. It will be the first of four games this fall for the Cougars.
“Every year they (Utah State) seem to provide a pretty good game for us” said BYU assistant coach, Chad Sackett. “Last year was a tough game, down to the wire. I imagine this game might be similar because we lost a lot of guys.”
The Aggies and Cougars have been playing games for a long time. Before BYU joined the Premiere Development League the two met almost every year. Utah State still competes at the club level and now plays the Cougars in fall exhibitions.
BYU finished the 2009 regular season with a 7-5-4 record, and just one spot out of the playoffs in the Southwest Division. The Cougars return 13 players who saw action during the 2009 regular season. The Cougars are excited to get back onto the pitch.
“I expect to win and give a great effort,” said Midfielder, Brit Osborne. “We’re on our home field. We want to win. It’s no gimme for sure. We’re definitely going to have to put work in to win. We’re looking to build team unity. Our PDL season is a ways off but this is all preparation, keeping us in good shape, getting used to the new guys.”
BYU has not lost to Utah State under head coach, Chris Watkins.
BYU’s next game is Friday, October 2 at 5 p.m. against Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake. Go to http://www.byusoccer.com to purchase a ticket to the game.
The Cougars joined the Premiere Development League in 2003. BYU is the first university to sponsor a soccer program in the PDL. The league is considered higher than NCAA soccer in the US soccer pyramid.
The Cougars regular season is during the summer with entertaining matches against some of the best competition in the country.
Follow the Cougars on twitter.com/byusoccer for live game and weekly updates of the team.
Audio Interviews:
Chad Sackett-Assistant Coach
Brit Osborne-Midfielder (Sr.)
