BYU Soccer: Cougars suffer first loss and end week 1-1

A disappointing loss against FC Tucson began the Cougars week and ended their undefeated season. They would bounce right back and take their second game in a week against the Las Vegas Mobsters. With 15 points on the season, and a 5-1 record, the Cougars are tied for first place in the Mountain Division with FC Tucson. With eight games to play, and the teams already splitting the series one win a piece, the division is still up for grabs.

FC Tucson

In the Cougars first PDL road game of the season, the Cougars fell to FC Tucson thanks to strong defense and Odaine Sinclair. Head Coach Christopher Watkins stated "We played a great team tonight and unfortunately we did not play our best. We did some really great things at different points in the game, but were not able to come out with three points." Not stopping Sinclair ended up being their downfall. Sinclair provided all the offense the Tucson and he scored in the 45th and 47th minute. The second goal was off a rebound and became an afterthought to the game due to the amazing goal just before halftime. Sinclair had only scored one goal in the first four PDL matches and so nobody saw his sensational bicycle kick coming and left everyone, including the coaches, stunned. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, take a look below as you may never see anything like it again.

Las Vegas Mobsters

In front of 450 fans and weather that was listed on the box score as "Hot", the Cougars beat the Mobsters by the same 3-2 score as the week before. The Cougars prevailed in a physical game that ended with four cautions, two for each team. Las Vegas started off the scoring as Craig Carney hit the back of the net in the third minute, giving the Mobsters their first lead over BYU in 2014. BYU wouldn't stay behind for long, as Jace Green took an assist from Winston Sorhaitz in the seventh minute for the tie. BYU would continue to fight on the road as Sorhaitz didn't stop with an assist and scored the go ahead score for the Cougars in the 16th minute. With a 2-1 lead at the half, the Cougars looked to hold on to the lead, but Julian Portugal had different ideas as he scored on an assist from Salvador Bernal in the 56th minute, tying the game at two. BYU would finish out the scoring only four minutes later as Jace Green hit the back of the net for the second time, and giving the Cougars their fifth win of the year. BYU goile Jake Peterson made sure that the Cougars came out with the win as he recorded six saves during the match.

This week

This week the Cougars will take on the 1-3 Fresno Fuego and the 0-3-2 San Jose Earthquakes. The game against Fresno will be played at Chukchansi park on Thursday and is scheduled for 8pm MDT. The game against San Jose will be played at Cal State Stanislaus and is scheduled for 8pm MDT on Saturday.

BYU opened the PDL season with a 3-1 home win against the Fuego and then beat the Earthquakes 2-1 at home a week later.