Monday, May 21, 2012

Real Salt Lake vs BYU Exhibition game Recap

I heard about this match going down in Provo on Saturday night the 19th of May, so I emailed my RSL boss Trey to see if they needed any extra help during the game. He said he wanted me to be the PR guy down at the game and be in charge and take game notes and write a recap on the game, along with obtaining some quotes as well for the RSL website. I was super nervous, because I've never drafted a press release after a RSL match before. They usually leave that to the interns to do. The most I ever do as far as writing goes is get quotes from the teams and compile them on a laptop to be posted for the website later.


I came eager and ready to get my mission accomplished. I sat with Brian Kamler, who is a sports color analyst for ESPN700, so I knew I could listen to him and his partner call the game and I could listen to it to make sure my notes were also correct. The game went well and I came up with nearly 4 pages of notes. I talked with MLS.com writer Randy Davis, and he told me that he was asked to write a recap by one of the RSL interns. I told him I was doing the same, so we both agreed to write a different kind of angle on the game, so it wasn't the same.  


I came home that evening after the 1-1 tie game and doing some interviews and helping PR with the journalists. I thought I had a deadline, so I worked fervently. After about 2 and a half hours I finally finished my RECAP that I wrote in a rush. I emailed it into my boss.


It has been 2 days since then, and he has not emailed me back giving me any kind of feed back. I emailed him again Sunday morning with a slightly altered version of the release just in case...Still no reply over a day later. I went onto RSL's website only to find that Randy's version of his RECAP had been published, and not mine. He has some quote from players and the head coach, who we didn't even interview after the game. He did a great job as always, but I'm a little upset that mine didn't go up as well. It's more of a play-by-play recap, and I thought I did well writing it. So i'm a little upset that it didn't get published after spending my entire Saturday evening and night working on it. If my release wasn't needed,  it would have been nice to know, and I wouldn't have written it. Either way, I didn't want it to go to waste, so Ithought I would post my RECAP Release, so that it can be another sample of my writing to my blog.



REAL SALT LAKE Finish With a 1-1 Draw at BYU Exhibition Game

Provo, UT. (Saturday, May 19, 2012)Real Salt Lake (8-3-2, 26 points, West #1) Finished with a draw in the first exhibition game against BYU since October 2009. RSL MF Will Johnson found the back of the net for the team’s only goal in the 46th minute where the opportunity was created by Fabian Espindola, when Espindola chipped the ball in to the center of the box, where Johnson right footed the ball toward the right side of the net.

Played on the South Field on BYU’s campus, RSL came out attacking early with Espindola getting a shot on goal in the 2nd minute. RSL continued attacking BYU with multiple shots. A head-in from Bonfigli in the 16th minute came off the cross bar. From there RSL had 3 corner kicks in the late teen minutes that set RSL up for a couple more shots that seemed to be blocked by BYU’s defense. BYU rallied back and took a shot on goal giving Kyle Reynish his first save of the game in the 21st minute. BYU did a fantastic job clogging up the mid field and made some really solid runs on RSL. BYU’s defense made it difficult for RSL to get a clear shot on frame until the very end of the first half after BYU took their first corner in the 45th minute which resulted in the ball headed out and brought down the field where Espindola chipped the ball into the center of the box to find Johnson, who then put the ball away to the back of the right side of the net in the 46th minute.

Following the 1-0 first half, RSL brought early energy to the second stanza, most of it through Cody Arnoux. The New York striker harassed the Cougar backline, only to have an open shot blocked by a slide tackle from BYU’s Sterling Hancock, which prevented Arnoux from scoring. RSL continued to do a good job wearing down BYU, but BYU managed to keep their players fresh with 6 substitutions in the first half, and 8 in the second half, while RSL’s only substitutions came at the beginning of the second half with 4 substitutions.

RSL came close a few more times in the second half with two shots by Saborio, and another by Grabavoy that bounced off the wood work. The game started to change starting in the 80th minute when Cruz was issued a yellow card for a hard tackle on BYU’s David Gates.

RSL’s last chance at scoring came in the 87th minute when Saborio was fouled at the top of the 18 yard box that set up a free kick taken by Grabavoy that ricochet off  the far post. RSL missed passes that created opportunities for BYU to come back into the game and score in the 89th minute by David Gates, assisted by Dallin Cutler. BYU’s Garrett Losee had a steal in the final 92nd minute which left him with a wide open shot just a few yards in front of GK Kyle Reynish that went far left of goal bringing the crowd of 3,845 to their feet to end the game.

Real Salt Lake Match Notes – BYU 1 : 1 RSL

      RSL DF Chris Wingert did not suit due to a left hamstring injury which occurred in the Seattle match. Also Chris Schuler was missing due to a foot injury. RSL was already out talismanic MF Javier Morales due to a right quadriceps strain.

      Last exhibition game against BYU was on October 2, 2009, which resulted in a 3-1 victory for the Claret-and-Cobalt over the Cougars’ turf. This occurred nearly a month and a half before RSL captured the MLS Cup 2009 title

      BYU Men’s soccer team recently returned from Costa Rica where they won all 3 of the games played there. BYU host their home opener against the Los Angeles Misioneros May 24th on the South Field at 8 p.m.

      Real Salt Lake returns to action at its Rio Tinto Stadium home against FC Dallas on Saturday, May 26. Tickets for that night’s game can be purchased at www.RealSaltLake.com or by calling (801) 727.2701.

      RSL had players who went to their respective national team camps, as MF Kyle Beckerman, GK Nick Rimando were called to national team camp U.S. and were not in attendance. MF Will Johnson (Canada) and FW Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) could potentially participate in the early June FIFA dates … 18-year old RSL MF Luis Gil could potentially be included in the U.S. U-20 camp this summer as well.


Brigham Young University 1: REAL SALT LAKE 1
SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012
South Field

Goals by Period                    1          2          F
Brigham Young                       0          1          1
Real Salt Lake                        1          0          1

Scoring Summary:               RSL – Johnson (Espindola) 46’
                                               BYU _ Gates (Cutler) 89’

Misconduct Summary:         BYU –  (Hard Foul) 47’
                                                RSL –  Alvarez (Hard Foul) 64’
                                                            Cruz (Hard Foul) 80’
RSL Shots- 21, Shots on Goal 3
BYU Shots- 3, Shots on Goal 4
           
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-4-2) – Kyle Reynish; , Jamison Olave, Terukazu Tanaka, Chris Estridge (Andreas Chronis 46’); Leone Cruz, Yordany Alverez, Will Johnson (Ned Grabavoy 46’), Luis Gil, Jonny Steele, Emiliano Bonfigli (Alvaro Saborio 46’), Fabian Espindola (Cody Arnoux 46’) Substitutes Only Made at the beginning of second half

Brigham Young Cougars (4-3-3) – Hale Bryan 00 GK, Sterling Hancock 5,Douglas Clark 6, Jonathan Junca 8, Will Burton 23, James Bindrup 22, Dallin Cutler 4, Jace Green 19, Scott Heaton 15, Garrett Losee 13, David Gates 12
Substitutes Used: 6 substitutes in the first half, 8 substitutions in the second half with the last sub coming in the 91st minute.

Referee: Alex Krelow 
Referee's Assistants: Brad Jensen, Hamed Sadeghi 4th Official: Justice Jex

Attendance: 3,845
Time of Game: 5:05
Weather: Clear and 70 degrees