There’s no more time for what-ifs for the Park City High School boys’ lacrosse team.
Following Friday’s 9-5 loss to Judge Memorial at Dozier Field, the Miners don’t have the luxury to wonder what might have been during the 2012 regular season as the state playoffs are already on the horizon.
And they’ll be facing some stiff competition.
Head coach Andy Langendorf said Park City will face either Juan Diego or Alta on the road when the postseason begins next Wednesday, and the first-year head coach knows the challenge that lies ahead.
“We’re definitely going to be behind the 8-ball,” he said. “We’re going to have to play extremely well to get past both those teams.”
The Miners’ loss to the Bulldogs, who are considered a state powerhouse along with Juan Diego and Alta, left a sour taste. Langendorf said the two teams were deadlocked 2-2 after the first quarter, but once Park City started committing fouls, Judge made the home team pay dearly.
Thanks to five Park City penalties in the second quarter, the Bulldogs exploded for four goals to take a 6-2 halftime lead.
“We had talked about that prior to the game, because we knew we could not go to the penalty box,” he said. “We knew Judge had been excellent all season a man up. They went from being in a real tight game to being in total control.”
But the Miners outscored the Bulldogs 2-1 in the third, and trailed 7-4 heading into the final quarter. From there, the penalties took center stage again, and Judge was able to capitalize and escape Dozier Field with a 9-5 victory.
The Miners were paced offensively by Jake Gutman (two goals), Rufus Frost (one goal, one assist), Carson Dutkanych (one goal, one assist) and Christian Pompoco (one goal).
“(Penalties) were the tale of the game and we were pressing and maybe got a little over-aggressive,” Langendorf said. “We were running out of time it’s a difficult situation to be in sometimes and there’s consequences to that.
“We were disappointed, not in the fact that we lost, but I wanted it to be a closer game.”
If the Miners want to prolong their season starting next week, they’ll have to play at a high level to hang with the state’s best.
“The challenge lies out there for us to motivate and inspire the players who are lacking a little confidence,” Langendorf said. “We’re hoping they will be motivated and, by no means, do we go into any game knowing or thinking we’ll lose.”
Throughout this season, Langendorf has reiterated that, in addition to the Miners’ main attacking players, the team must depend on other players stepping up at opportune times.
Park City’s head coach knows Frost, Gutman and Dutkaynch have the ability to electrify the offense. But as he saw in the loss to Judge, the team’s top attackers didn’t have much wiggle room.
“The players who are our known goal-scorers, you can bet your last dollar on the fact they’re going to be in great tight coverage Now it falls to the other guys to step up,” he said. “I’ve told them, ‘If we don’t step up, we don’t win.'”
Luckily for the Miners, they’ll have a week’s worth of practice and game-planning for either Alta or Juan Diego. (Park City will find out who its first-round opponent is today.)
“It will give us an opportunity to heal up and give us an opportunity to do some very specific things,” Langendorf said. “We have film on both those teams. Knowing those programs, they’re not going to change up because they have lots of success with the systems they’re playing.
“But there’s no pressure on us the underdog has an edge. All the heat is on them.”