PROVO — BYU continued to build momentum into the PDL playoffs with a 2-0 win over the visiting Cascade Surge Friday night.
Despite an early goal, the Cougars weren't able to put the Surge away until the closing minutes.
BYU (13-1-1) dominated the match against the struggling Surge (3-10-2) by controlling the ball on both sides of the field but couldn't put the ball in the net except for the opening and closing minutes.
"I don't think we played very smart tonight," said BYU coach Chris Watkins. "They made it hard for us, and we didn't exactly put away the early chances."
The Cougars' first goal came in the sixth minute when Zack DeFrancis intercepted the ball as the Surge were attempting to clear it. DeFancis was able to draw the keeper out as he dribbled into the box and then dumped the ball off to Steven Fellows, who kicked it into the open net for his fifth goal of the season.
"Early goals, of course, are huge," said Watkins. "Tonight's no different."
Defensively the Cougars didn't allow anything resembling a solid shot and did an excellent job keeping Cascade's leading scorer, Stefan Ostergren, from scoring. Ostergren is in the top 10 in all of the PDL in goals scored with 12.
"They had no looks inside the 18, and they didn't have much outside the 18," said Watkins.
BYU sealed the win in the 88th minute with a tremendous pass from Hugh VanWagenen to Daniel McKinley. The Surge were pushed forward on the offensive end when VanWagenen got the ball deep in Cascade territory. Rather than simply clear it, he passed the ball over the top of the Surge deep into the BYU offensive end to McKinley who beat the defenders to the ball and punched it past the keeper for the 2-0 lead.