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PROVO — Entering the 2015 Premier Development League season with a young team, BYU men’s soccer coach Chris Watkins knew the Cougars would have their share of bad nights.
Saturday night was one of them.
David Clemens had two goals and an assist to lead FC Tucson by BYU 3-1 to end the Cougars’ six-match homestand at South Field with a loss.
“Overall, we’re miles ahead of where we were a month ago,” Watkins said after the match. “The last game we played these guys, we didn’t get out of our own end. We tied 0-0, but that’s only because we parked the bus and didn’t get out of our own end. Today, we wanted to play them toe-to-toe, and we’re at that point now where we can try that.
“Ever today was better than where we were a month ago; that’s just how bad we were. I’ve been happy with it.”
BYU (0-4-5) lost only its second home match in PDL play this year, but couldn’t muster a shot until Winston Sorhaitz floated one off target in the 27th minute. But by then, FC Tucson (4-1-4) was already up 1-0 via Justin Bilyeu’s goal in the 17th minute. The Tucson side had already outshot BYU 10-1 at that point and finished with a 20-7 shot advantage on the night after both teams battled to a 2-2 draw on Friday evening.
“We couldn’t get out of our back, and our back line couldn’t settle us down,” Watkins said. “If your back line can’t settle down, then who is? As weird as it sounds, we’ve been pretty consistent. But tonight was a bad night for at least 65 minutes. Those happen every once in a while.”
Overall, we're miles ahead of where we were a month ago. The last game we played these guys, we didn't get out of our own end. We tied 0-0, but that's only because we parked the bus and didn't get out of our own end. Today, we wanted to play them toe-to-toe, and we're at that point now where we can try that.
–BYU coach Chris Watkins
Clemens assisted on Bilyeu’s opener, then found the score sheet himself in the 34th minute, finishing Devante Dubose’s long ball into the box to round BYU goalkeeper Brenden Ottman and give FC Tucson a 2-0 halftime lead.
The recent graduate of Virginia Tech capped the scoring for FC Tucson in the 69th minute, finishing a two-touch ball from inside the box to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Jacob Ence scored BYU’s lone goal of the match, cleaning up a misplayed ball by Tucson goalkeeper Yann Passett in the first minute of stoppage time for his first goal of the year.
“He’s been unlucky not to have a couple more this season,” Watkins said of Ence, a recent graduate of Salem Hills High School. “Good for him; he deserved it. It was probably the easiest goal he’s ever had, but he’s certainly deserved at least one or two goals by now.”
Passett made two saves for FC Tucson, and Ottman had six saves for BYU.
Recent Alta High graduate Christian Bain, who was named the 2015 Deseret News’ Mr. Soccer after leading the Hawks to the Class 5A state title, made his BYU debut as a 55th-minute substitute.
With the win, FC Tucson moved to 10 points in PDL Mountain division play — six points up on Real Colorado for second place in the division.
BYU plays its final home game July 4 against Burlingame Dragons FC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MT at South Field.
