Chip Cook was deliberate. After her Park City High School girls’ soccer team dropped back-to-back matches against Juan Diego Tuesday at home and Uintah Thursday on the road, the Miners’ head coach summed it up the best she could.
“Hopefully we got our bad week over with here and we can start new on Monday and get back to playing some good soccer,” she said.
After Juan Diego thumped Park City 5-0 Tuesday at the North 40 field a rematch of last year’s 3A state final the Miners traveled to Vernal Thursday afternoon to take on a Uintah squad that Cook dubbed “very athletic and very aggressive.”
The Utes beat Park City 3-2. Sophomore defender Taylor Hodgson and sophomore winger Maggie Reigelsperger each scored for the Miners in the loss.
Uintah was awarded two penalty kicks in the match, one of which was thwarted by Park City keeper Skye Mooney. The Utes capitalized on the other en route to taking the Region 10 win from the Miners.
“There were just some tough calls in inopportune times,” Cook said. “We started a little bit slow, had a little bit of a rough time adjusting a bit from Tuesday’s game. Then, we had a great second half; we hit the post three times, missed by inches at least three times just couldn’t put the ball in to even it up.
“Just one of those games.”
Asked if the lopsided loss to the defending state champs had any lingering effect on her team as it headed to Vernal, Cook said it was a possibility.
“We knew what we had to do,” she said. “We still started a little bit slow. You know, it’s a long trip out there on a Thursday, but we can make all the excuses we want to. We were just kind of flat coming out of the gate and they made us pay. Add that to some unfortunate calls and there you have it. I guess that’s the only way to sum it up.”
After riding high through the first four region matches, in which they scored 19 goals, the Miners, now 6-6 overall (4-2 in region) have some work to do.
“We’ve been getting a bit panicky, lacking in possession, and we need to improve on that,” Cook said. “They know, and now they just have to get out and execute and I feel confident that they will. I’m happier that we’re having this now than at the end of the season.
“You’re never happy when you have a bad performance, but you hope you can take something and learn from it and not get deflated. I’m not sensing that from the team. Today was unlucky. We had our chances.”
The Miners now head to Salt Lake City Tuesday for a rematch against Judge Memorial, which will be gunning for revenge after being stomped 6-2 by Park City on Sept. 8. Following that match will be the second leg of the Park City-Wasatch rivalry in Heber on Sept. 29.
And Cook says, make no mistake, her team will be ready to get the ball rolling again, even in the face of a grueling end-of-season stretch.
“We have all the pieces to the puzzle, we just have to execute now and we have to do the simple things well,” she said. “And the team knows what those are. I think they’re just mad enough now that it’s actually going to benefit us. They hate to lose.
“We’re not giving up. This is a tremendous team and we’re going to keep plugging away.”