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PROVO — The BYU men’s soccer team dropped its first home match in Premier Development League play this season with a 3-2 loss to division-leading Albuquerque on Thursday night at South Field.
But head coach Chris Watkins was far from upset after the match — though obviously a little disappointed.
“Albuquerque's just a better team than we are, and the better team won,” Watkins said. “I’m proud of our guys. I looked them in the eye, and they are dead. They spent it all, and I’m proud of them."
BYU’s players spent all week working through the day hours as the school’s sport camp counselors, and Watkins said many of his players needed a break midway through the tenuous schedule that includes six-straight matches at home.
But he pointed to vast improvement in his squad since the early days of training in the spring.
“Even our reserves are doing a great job,” Watkins said. “It sounds crazy — we haven’t won a PDL game yet. But if you would’ve seen us in February, you would’ve thought we’d go 0-16. That’s not an exaggeration; it was looking that way. But we’ll keep going, and we’ll get a result.”
The Sol (5-1-1), which picked up their sixth-straight result and haven’t lost since the opening weekend of the season, struck first through Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy product Sam Gleason. The midfielder jumped onto the end of a through-ball from Manuel Campos and finished it in the 23rd minute of the match to put the visitors up 1-0.
But BYU (0-3-4) came back to equalize at halftime with a goal from the penalty spot by Jace Green, who led the Cougars with four shots on the night. Green buried his penalty kick past Albuquerque goalkeeper Lucas Champenois in the 44th minute, right after Andrew Dossett drew a handball penalty with his shot at the end of the first half.
“I think generally, our pressure on the ball is just a little too slow,” Watkins said. “They were on time, and we were a half-second late and a little bit unsure.
“Believe it or not, we’re getting better. We’re just not one of the top teams in the league right now. Ultimately, if you aren’t confident in knowing where to go and when, you’ll be a step slow.”
Much of the second half belonged to Albuquerque, though. Carlos Sendin’s glancing header finished off Campos’ free kick in the 63rd minute for the latter’s second assist of the night, and the Sol took a lead they would never relinquish.
Ricardo Zacarias scored the game-winner in the 70th minute, cheekily dumping a ball through traffic to put Albuquerque up 3-1.
“I think that kid, I shook his hand at the end, he’s thick like a tank,” Watkins said of Zacarias. “He just navigated through and I don’t think our guys thought he was agile enough to take that shot. It was a nice little move, he used his body well and finished well.”
Garrett Gee pulled one back for BYU with 12 minutes remaining, finishing a ball from Ariel Chavez to round the goalkeeper and put a consolation goal into the back of the net. But Champenois made five saves on 11 shots faced to help the visitors earn all three points on the night.
“We had 11 shots against a team of this quality, and that’s not bad,” Watkins said. “But we can’t give up three goals and expect to win. The result was fair; they were the better team tonight.”
BYU wraps up its six-game homestand with a pair of matches against FC Tucson next Friday and Saturday. The PDL club’s only other home match is July 4 against Burlingame Dragons FC.
