They knew coming into Wednesday’s decisive showdown against the defending state champion that they’d have to play a nearly flawless game. But the Park City boys’ lacrosse team found out, once again, that slow starts and error-prone ways against some of the state’s best teams are generally a quick grave.
“We knew we had a challenge ahead of us,” said head coach Rich Levi. “We had a pretty good solid week of practice this week. I really thought the guys were going to come out and put up a better fight. We made some early mistakes, had some unforced turnovers, mental mistakes early, and gave them momentum in the first half.
“We were really never able to catch up.”
The Miners lost their second straight game, dropping to 5-4 overall this season, as the defending champion Brighton Bengals ventured to Quinn’s Junction Wednesday afternoon and overwhelmed Park City 16-6.
“When you’re playing a good team like that, you can’t fall behind early. You just can’t,” Levi said. “We were looking to what kind of team we were. We found out where we are right now.”
The recurring theme from earlier matches against Alta, Judge Memorial and Copper Hills appeared again Wednesday.
The Bengals pounced early and often, as Park City has seen higher-end opponents do throughout the season, and they didn’t let up.
“The good teams that we’re playing, so far, we haven’t really been close (to),” Levi said. “We’re losing by 8 to 10 goals.”
A trio of Park City seniors were responsible for the goal-scoring against Brighton as Griffin Perkiel (three), Mark West (two) and Graham Clark (one) were the only Miners able to get past the Bengals’ goalie.
Levi said this year’s team isn’t designed to be a come-from-behind squad.
“Built for ball control and tough defense,” he said.
He added that slow starts in crucial matches this season has been an Achilles’ heel for last year’s state-title runner-up.
“You have to let them know immediately that you’re not there to be pushed around on every ground ball and every possession,” Levi said. “You do that by setting the tone early. flying around the field as hard and as fast as you can. Once we go down early, a lot of times what happens, we’re down 3-0 and it stops being the team game and it starts being the “me”-game.
“We haven’t really been able to put together those first three quarters to set up a close game down the stretch. That’s where you find out where you are as a team: down the stretch. That’s where you find out what you have left in the tank.”
The Miners, approaching the end of regular-season play, will continue to be tested against some of the state’s top teams next week as they welcome both Juan Diego and Waterford to town.
“At this point, these guys just have to prove something to themselves,” Levi said. “They have to find confidence in their game. Only way to do that is beating a top-10 opponent.”
Levi reiterated his team has some time to pick up some momentum prior to the start of the postseason, but knows his players have to dig deep.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “We know players are frustrated. At this point in the season, you just have to keep working on the game. You just never know when things can click for your team. Right now, we’re not there.
“If they can put this thing together, they’ve got unlimited potential, that’s for sure.”