Time after time, the BYU men's soccer team put the ball into the penalty box of the visiting Yakima Reds on Friday evening at Haws Field at BYU. But each time, the Reds either had a defender in the right place or the Cougars couldn't get to the right place in time.

This time, however, forward Jordan Cushman was waiting.

Cushman smoothly knocked the ball home to break a 1-1 tie and that turned out to be the game winner as the Cougars held on for the 2-1 victory in Premier Development League action.

"My guy had been slacking all game when I had been making runs," Cushman explained. "When I saw (Losee) beat his guy, I just took off from the top of the 18-yard box. It went clear across and I just had the lucky privilege of putting it in. It was a team goal."

The forward said that after seeing all of the missed opportunities, it was very rewarding to have one go in.

"We deserved it," Cushman said. "We had more opportunities in the box even if we didn't get shots off. But that's why the goal chance came. If you do it enough times, eventually you get one."

That was by far the best goal of the contest, as the other two were scored in unattractive fashion.

The visitors jumped in front in the 11th minute after a long throw was deflected across the goal mouth. BYU keeper Brandon Gilliam came off his line and had the ball in his hands but collided with a Cougar defender, taking both players out of the play.

Yakima midfielder Luis Galvan pounced on the loose ball and knocked it into the open net to open the scoring.

After stretches of lackluster play in the first half, the Cougars roared out of the gate to start the second period, trying desperately to find an equalizer.

"We reminded the team that this was the season," said BYU head coach Chris Watkins. "We put the pressure on and they responded well."

Wave after wave of Cougar assaults paid off with a bit of luck in the 47th minute of play. A ball crossed into the top of the penalty box from the side didn't appear dangerous, but it glanced off the hand of the Red defender, giving the home team a penalty kick.

Cougar forward Zach DeFrancis drilled the ball into the back of the net to tie the score and give BYU much-needed momentum.

"We needed one early or the one bad goal would be biting at us the whole game," Cushman explained. "Once we got it, we were able to put them on their heels."

The BYU defense also did its job, allowing Yakima few scoring opportunities in the second half, mostly off of counterattacks.

The win was exactly what Watkins wanted to see from a young team that has struggled so far.

"We feel like we need to get four points out of the two games this weekend and hopefully six," he said. "If we can do that, we'll have a little bit of control with regards to our positioning in the playoffs.

"We also needed to prove we could get up off the mat. We got knocked out in Canada and we needed this to prove who we are."

The Cougars will go for their second straight home win tonight against the other Northwest Division leaders of the PDL, the Tacoma Tide. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Haws Field at BYU.

• Jared Lloyd can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it