Cougars Finish Best Ever PDL Season
By Kim Christenson
Provo, Utah (August 01, 2007)
The men's soccer team just ended their most successful season since entering the PDL with an outstanding record of 14-2-2. The Cougars won the Northwest Division Title, finished second overall in the Western Conference, and is ranked among the top eight in the PDL.
"It was a fantastic year," said head coach Chris Watkins. "Our seniors and the guys on the bench really came through for us and raised the level of expectation in our program."
BYU scored thirty-seven goals this season and only had fourteen goals scored against them, which is less than any other team in the Western Conference.
"The depth of our team has been the reason for our high scoring offense," said team captain Brock Trejo. "The stats show that a lot of the players on our team have scored, not just a few."
Zack DeFrancis led the team with six goals, and Steven Fellows and Tyson Miller followed with five goals each.
BYU's defense was headed up by senior Hugh VanWagenen. "We won more games than we lost, so I guess we did alright," he said.
"We have a lot of experience back there," said defender Clay Christenson. "We have a lot of guys that have played back there for awhile. So not only do we have guys with great individual skill but collectively we were able to read one another."
Anchoring the BYU defense were goalies Brandon Gilliam and Ben Walunus who on average gave up less than one goal per game.
Walunus said, "The defense worked well this year through experience and returning players. Keeping the opponents to less than one goal per game was an outstanding mark for the team."
The team's coaching staff will change next season with assistant coach Brian Jolley reluctantly leaving the coaching staff to fulfill his professional responsibilities.
"I don't think I could've asked for a better season to finish my BYU Soccer career on. It was certainly a magical way to close this chapter of my life as I move on to furthering my career and being able to spend a little bit more time with my family. But working with BYU since 1992 as a player and as a coach has been absolutely incredible, something that's been special for me and my family."
The Cougars are scheduled to play the Real Salt Lake reserves on October 10th.
For other news and information about BYU men's soccer, visit soccer.byu.edu.
