PROVO — BYU's inaugural run through the Premier Development League playoffs ended Saturday night as the Cougars fell to Orange County in penalty kicks 4-2 after playing to a 2-2 tie in the Western Conference finals.
But not until after the Cougars took the Blue Star through 90 minutes of regulation, 30 minutes of overtime and five penalty kicks each, with a pair of late second-half goals — including one in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time.
But Orange County won on the decisive penalty kicks, hitting all of its first four attempts, while BYU managed to make two, miss one and have another blocked by OC keeper Nathan Pena.
"It's never fair on PKs — one team has to win," said BYU coach Chris Watkins. "We have a lot of momentum late but couldn't put it away."
And that was with Orange County playing a man short throughout the overtime.
With the home loss at South Field, BYU ends its best-ever PDL season with a 10-6-2 record, while 11-4-3 Orange County — a perennial powerhouse loaded with the top post-collegiate talent from the West Coast and Greater Northwest — advances to next week's PDL semifinals.
Had the Cougars beaten the Blue Star for the conference crown, BYU would have hosted its national semifinal match at South Field.
Down 2-0, The Cougars scored their first goal late in the second half — in the 86th minute — on a 12-yard rocket shot by substitute forward Brady Marshall — seemingly too little too late.
BYU then spent the final four minutes of stoppage time with a flurry of corner kicks and attacks before Justin Norton pocketed his team's second goal after a series of deflections, beating Pena as the OC bench screamed for the final whistle.
In fact, the Blue Star's Sem Lopez earned a red card for his protestations, leaving his Orange County teammates a man short for the two 15-minute overtime periods.
Neither team converted a couple of good chances each in the overtimes.
Orange County took a 2-0 lead in the first half — the opening goal in the 26th minute as the Blue Star's Patrick Marion finished off a series of pinball-like deflections in front of the Cougar net, poking the ball past sliding BYU keeper Michael Lacey just inside the right post.
The second came in the 41st minute as OC's Brad Evans slipped past a pair of BYU defenders on the dribble and avoided an onrushing Lacey to find the net from 15 yards out on the left angle.
In the penalty kicks, BYU's Travis Winn's first attempt was blocked, while teammates Brock Trejo and Morgan Gilliam followed with successful shots before Britton Osborne was wide on the Cougars' fourth attempt. Watkins admitted that match substitutions resulted in having only two of his five regular PK specialists available for the shootout.
Player-coach Nick Theslof made OC's first PK, followed by Sergio Rivera, Michael Farfan and Ryan Valdez.
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