Byers netted four goals to lead the Cougars past the Huskies 11-6 at Lakeville South High School Saturday night, taking his season tally to 36, a team high, while displaying how his attacking skills have been crucial to the success of the Cougars this season.

Lakeville South coach Hank Marotske said Byers’ offense has been incredible.

"Byers’ impact is huge. Nobody can stop him. There hasn’t been anybody that can stop him all year. Even if he's not doing anything with the ball, the entire defense is focused on him,” he said.

Marotske stated Byers’ greatest quality as a midfielder is that he is a two-way player, meaning he can provide more for the team than just scoring.

"Everyone recognizes him as a scorer, but he plays great shutdown man-to-man defense, he makes things happen in transition, and he has just as many assists as goals," Marotske said.

Byers has 17 assists this season and he added one more against the Huskies (12-3) by setting up the Cougars' second leading scorer Skyler Rust (28 goals) right in front of net in the fourth quarter.

With talented players across the field, Marotske said it becomes too much for opposing defenses to handle. If they target one player, another one is going to be open.

Lakeville South (7-8) tries to work as a team with good ball movement. Marotske said the Cougars aim to rack up as many assists as they can in each game, and six of the Cougars’ goals Saturday had assists attached.

"Most of our goals came off of assists, which is what we strive for,” Marotske said. “Every game we strive to score more than 10, and allow less than 10. And 11 and six is what we want to do."

The Cougars were down 5-4 at halftime, with Owatonna having found its spots on the attack. The game seemed to be going the Huskies' way in the second quarter in particular.

"Our offense did a nice job of possessing," Owatonna coach Scott Seykora said. "We got a lot of good looks. In that second quarter everything was kind of clicking for them."

But the momentum was all for Lakeville South once the second half began.

"We knew they were going to get the ball in transition, and we knew that if we chase their stick we'd get beat. Three of their goals came from chasing sticks and broken transition plays," Marotske said.

Byers scored two goals on Lakeville South's 4-0 run in the third quarter, which was part of a larger 7-1 second-half blowout. The Cougars were executing on both sides of the field, but Marotske said his team will need to reach another level to have the best chance at advancing to the state tournament when they face the winner of Lakeville North versus Rochester Century’s section semifinal next Wednesday.

"We have to continue to improve our defense. It's hard to argue we don’t have one of the best offenses in state. If our defense can continue to tighten up, we'll be okay," Marotske said.