HEBER Coming off an impressive 3-1 road victory over Judge Memorial Tuesday, the Park City High School girls’ soccer team had an opportunity to build some momentum heading into the last three matches of the regular season.
But there was one issue: Rival Wasatch wouldn’t go down without a fight, and wouldn’t be swept in the season series.
In what turned out to be the quintessential rivalry match, the Miners and Wasps battled for 84 minutes before Wasatch’s Shantae George was able to bury the golden goal winner in overtime. The Wasps defeated Park City 2-1 Thursday in Heber.
The Miners fell to 7-7 overall this season and 5-3 in Region 10 play. After a resounding 4-0 start in region, Park City has gone 1-3 in its last four matches.
“It’s almost like they get so emotionally drained, they have a hard time getting back up for the next one,” said Park City head coach Chip Cook, referring to Tuesday’s big road win in Salt Lake City. “I don’t know. We’re disappointed. We needed this win and we didn’t get it done. We didn’t play well enough.”
Park City was first on the board in the 27th minute as junior midfielder Rachael Papez outmuscled a Wasatch defender and whipped a cross into the box. The ball took a fortuitous bounce over a Wasp defender and reached the foot of sophomore forward Allie Gordon, who tucked the ball into the near post, giving the Miners a 1-0 lead.
But Wasatch responded seven minutes later as Emily Duffet rifled a long-range shot over the outstretched arms of Miners’ goalie Skye Mooney to knot things up at 1-1.
For the next 50 minutes, Park City and Wasatch exchanged missed opportunities, hard fouls and easy chances gone awry.
Then, four minutes into extra time, Wasatch evened up the season series with its rival as a loose ball on the goal line eventually crept its way in, sealing the victory for the hometown Wasps.
“We’re going to work as hard as we can to improve on some things,” Cook said. “We had our opportunities.
“I thought our touch was off and we were playing with some heavy feet. I think we were reacting rather than anticipating. We got away from our game.”
Park City isn’t panicking, Cook said, but the playoffs are right around the corner with only two matches left in the regular season: Tuesday at home against Union and on the road Oct. 6 at Juan Diego.
“The reality is, the real season doesn’t even start until the playoffs,” she said. “You can win every game during the regular season and you lose in the first round. That’s the reality. Hopefully we don’t lose our confidence as a team and hopefully we can get some swagger back and get back to where we know we can be and what our potential is.”
Statistically, Juan Diego has all but sealed up the Region 10 title, leaving the Miners fighting for the second seed. As of Thursday, both Wasatch and Park City owned 5-3 records in region.
“We have the ability to move forward and make a run at the state championship. It’s just we are not playing well enough right now,” Cook said.
Asked if the loss Thursday hurt more than others, Cook said, “Every loss does at this point. That second game, (Wasatch is) always really ready and really pumped and we, once again, came out flat.”
With the first round of the playoffs less than two weeks away, Park City has time to build some momentum, but Cook said it will take a total team effort to get where she believes the team can be.
“No matter what, when we get to the playoffs, we have to win,” she said.