Park City High School’s girls lacrosse team found itself in a tight game against Olympus on Wednesday for senior night. Games like Wednesday’s have been few and far between for the Miners, who were outscoring their opponents 169-24 heading into it.
The Miners led just 5-2 at halftime and played almost the entire second half down to 11 players due to yellow card accumulation, though Olympus later met the same fate. After the Titans narrowed the deficit to 5-3, Park City outscored Olympus 6-2 the rest of the way to hold on for an 11-5 win on senior night.
“We knew Olympus was going to come out strong, we knew Olympus was going to be a tough team,” Park City coach Mikki Clayton said. “We prepared for it, but those games are always really fun. It was fun to play a battle, it’s fun to coach those games. The girls have fun on the field. Great win.”
Senior Sam Riely put the Miners on the board first with a goal on an 8-meter shot. Riely, who was tied for the team lead in points after Wednesday’s game and signed with UC Davis to play lacrosse, kept her team going in the second half. She scored again and then added an assist to help the Miners put the game away.
“It was such a fun game,” Riely said. “I really love that competition. So, that was my favorite game by far this year.
“(Senior night) was a bittersweet moment. I mean, Dozier (Field) is my home, I will love it forever and playing on this field. It’s not our last one yet, but it’s getting there. And it was sad, but I loved it. It was the best game I’ve ever had, and it was so fun.”
Riely’s part of a senior class that has been pivotal to Park City’s success this year. Clayton had high praise for her group of seniors.
“We have a great senior class, they’ve been playing lacrosse forever, been a part of Park City lacrosse from youth all the way through high school,” she said. “They’ve just been phenomenal, I just love this senior class so much. Each and every one of them is super special to us, so it was a great win on senior night.”
Senior Kathleen Whiteley enjoyed playing on senior night as well. Whiteley, who finished the night with a team-high four ground balls, said it was the best senior night she could have asked for.
“I feel like our defense really came together today,” Whiteley said. “I know for the past couple of games, we’ve all had mistakes here and there. But today, I feel like we all really worked well together and didn’t make a single mistake that I thought was reasonable.”
While the focus was on the seniors on Wednesday, junior goalie Ava Kimche came up with several big saves for the Miners. Kimche hasn’t been tested that often this season, but she had a strong performance when Park City needed her the most.
“To actually get a lot of shots and get that excitement and adrenaline pumping was really good for her, and she excelled today,” Clayton said.
Wednesday’s game also served as an important reminder to Park City that there’s still work to be done ahead of the state playoffs. The Olympus game was the Miners’ closest game of the season, and it helps to have that after Park City has dominated its opponents all season long. The Miners should be more battle-tested after it closes the regular season with four more region games after Wednesday, including a matchup at home on Tuesday against a Brighton team that is second in RPI in Class 5A.
“I think it’s very important because it really gets our heads in the game where we just don’t have the mentality that we can win by 20 points,” Whiteley said. “I feel like it kind of sits us back in our seats and tells us that we still have competition out there, even though we haven’t met it yet.”