PROVO — It's been awhile since the BYU men's soccer team played postseason matches, so the Cougars took to the 2006 Premier Development League playoffs like a kid eating chocolate pudding with a fork — trying to make something good last as long as possible.
Four years after ending its dominance of the national club-soccer scene and making an unprecedented step into professional soccer, BYU hosted the PDL Western Conference semifinals and finals last week, with the Cougars claiming a Friday night upset over the favored Southern California Seahorses and then took the perennial powerhouse Orange County Blue Star to shoot-out penalty kicks before ending its inaugural pro-postseason run.
"The growth of this team in five years is unbelievable," said BYU coach Chris Watkins.
After posting seven national club-championships from 1993 to 2001 and being hampered by Title IX limitations in pursuing NCAA intercollegiate status, BYU opted to go pro and become the first university to own a PDL franchise under the umbrella of the United Soccer Leagues.
BYU promptly went 2-15-1 the first year but progressively improved through its four PDL seasons — this year earning its first PDL postseason berth after finishing second in Northwest Division — a late-season mini-slump costing the Cougars the division's regular-season crown.
In the Western Conference semifinals played Friday night at South Field, the Cougars upset Southwest Division champion Southern California 2-1, a Seahorse squad it had beaten only one in six previous pairings.
BYU's game-winner came on Jacob Cavanaugh's breakaway goal — the only score in the second half after a 1-all match through the first half.
That gave BYU a berth in Saturday night's conference finals against Orange County, a team it hadn't beaten in five matches in the three previous PDL seasons. With a finals victory, BYU would not only advance to the national semifinals but host that match as well.
Those prospects seemed dim as the Blue Star — annually loaded with many of the top post-collegiate talent from the West Coast and Greater Northwest area — took a 2-0 first-half advantage well into the second half before the Cougars' Brady Marshall scored a seemingly too-little-too-late goal in the 86th minute.
Trying to score the equalizer and force overtime, BYU unleashed a late-match barrage of attacks and corner kicks in the final minutes of regulation and the four minutes of stoppage time.
With the Orange County players and bench screaming for what they claimed was a belated final whistle, BYU's Justin Norton pocketed the Cougars' second goal off a series of pinball-like deflections, forcing overtime.
And BYU had an advantage in the two 15-minute overtime periods — both are played; there is no "golden goal" that halts OT action — since an OC player protested too vehemently and earned a red charge, with his ejection forcing the Blue Star to play a man shy the rest of the way.
Neither team could connect on decent overtime chances, and Orange County eventually won the match, the conference title and the PDL semifinal berth on penalty kicks, converting all four of its attempts while the Cougars could connect on only half of their first four tries.
BYU ended its best-ever PDL season with a 10-6-2 record, earning praise from Orange County player/coach for the Cougars' progression and improvement through its four PDL seasons.
"It's terrific," he said of having a university team playing in the development-level pro league. "We're two different types of teams, though — BYU is already a team that's put together, and we have to bring our players together every year. They've got some good players — not just NCAA-type players, but older players, too."
In addition to nearly winning the regular-season division crown in its first year among Northwest Competition (the Cougars spent the first three seasons in the Southwest Division), BYU in 2006 also developed a strong instate rivalry against the PDL's Ogden Outlaws and hosted the Coventry City Sky Blues before a near-capacity crowd last month.
Coventry City, a First Division team from England, made the Provo match one of its two "friendlies" on a preseason tour in the United States.
"I've never seen a more spirited and enthusiastic side than these young boys," said Coventry City manager Micky Adams of BYU after the match. "They're a real credit to the university and to themselves."
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