The BYU soccer team played a close match against the Real Salt Lake reserves Monday, battling all game long before finally falling to RSL 2-1 in front of 400 fans on BYU's soccer field.

The exhibition match was the third game of the season for the Cougars, who have seven new players on their roster.

"I am really happy with the way we played," said BYU coach Chris Watkins. "This was only our third game of the year, and we played very well, especially once we got our legs going."

Ten minutes in, RSL scored the first goal of the match, with BYU countering quickly, getting a good look on a goal that glanced off the goalpost. Following the near miss by the Cougars, the teams settled into a defensive struggle, with neither yielding open looks at the goal. Heading into halftime the score remained 1-0.

After the break, RSL came out aggressively, scoring in the first two minutes, followed up by a steal and a break on the goal that was saved on a diving grab by BYU goalkeeper Brandon Gilliam.

The Cougars then settled down into a defensive groove, holding RSL scoreless for the final 40 minutes of the contest.

"We really weren't familiar with the way they set up, but once we got marked up defensively, we were able to do very well," Watkins said. "We hung with them. As a team we really rose to the challenge, and played them very tough defensively. It's early for us, but we are looking very good."

With 10 minutes left in the game, BYU finally got on the board, when freshman wing Scott Heaton took advantage of an assist and punched the ball past the RSL goalkeeper for the goal.

BYU had another opportunity with less than five minutes left, as they controlled the ball in front of the RSL goal with a series of headers, before the shot on the goal sailed left, narrowly missing.

The Cougars will next be in action when they begin competition at the Fiji games, which run May 4-13.