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PROVO — BYU men’s soccer entered Wednesday night’s season finale at South Field with as little to play for — in the grand scheme of the season — as its interdivisional opponent from California.
But the Cougars had one thing going for them, and BYU coach Brandon Gilliam gave them the motto: Fight until the end.
In the end, that’s all Gilliam could ask for.
Mark Verso scored two goals and Felipe Silva added a goal in second-half stoppage time to lead FC Golden State Force to its fourth straight victory with a 3-1 win over 10-man BYU in the final Premier Development League match of the season Wednesday.
Taylor Funkhauser scored the lone goal of the match for BYU (4-6-4).
“Our guys fought, and you could tell we were a better team,” Gilliam said. “They performed well, but it’s hard to do it for that long down a man. There wasn’t quite enough to get a second goal, and then we left ourselves vulnerable pushing for it.”
Verso gave Golden State a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick midway through the first half. BYU’s Junior Lartey slid in on a vicious challenge inside the box to earn a red card, and Verso converted to give the visitors the early advantage.
BYU nearly equalized just seven minutes later, but Seth Fankhauser’s sliding touch inside the 6-yard box was saved.
But with two minutes left in the half, Seth Fankhauser got another chance. He took a quick restart in the Force’s half of the field and dished the ball to his brother Taylor Fankhauser and the former Brighton High standout buried the equalizer on a breakaway for the 1-1 halftime score.
“We were fighting until the end,” senior defender Ethan Meyer said. “That’s what we knew we needed to do. My last game, and everyone was playing for me and playing for next year. We fought as long as we can.”
Goalkeeper Brenden Ottman made four second-half saves to keep BYU tied at 1-1 for much of the second half, including a pair of reflex saves just 10 minutes apart around the hour-mark for the Cougars.
But Verso rose up for a header to bang in his second goal of the game — the match-winner — with 12 minutes remaining.
As the Cougars pushed for a goal to tie it up again, the Force (7-4-2) looked to counter. Meyer whipped a free kick from the right side of the field on frame, but goalkeeper Miranda was there to make the save.
“I didn’t think it would be my last, but I just played the game like I normally do,” Meyer said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t connect as well, but I had to give it go. It just didn’t fall for me.”
Silva punched in a goal for Golden State in stoppage time for the final margin.
The match wrapped up Gilliam’s first season as head coach of BYU soccer. The eighth-year BYU assistant took over for former coach Chris Watkins, who stepped down to focus on his role as associate head coach of the NCAA-sanctioned women’s team last fall.
“There is still a lot of work to do,” Gilliam said. “I like where we are at. I wish we had finished a little better, but I’m excited for the season next year.”
