The summer sun was fading across the Quinn’s Junction pitch Thursday night. There were only a few minutes left in the game, one that Wasatch had squared up in the 25th minute of the second half. Then struck brilliance in the form of a Miners game-winning goal.
With about 10 minutes to go, a Park City player sent a cross careening towards the opposing goal. While that ball would go past its target, it was in a good, dangerous spot. Senior Lauren Kindt found the ball, drew the attention of the Wasps defenders and goalkeeper and centered it back.
Fellow senior Sutton Hull was on the receiving end of Kindt’s stellar pass and had to tap the ball in for the goal. The goal was Hull’s second of the game, also scoring on a tougher tap-in at the 28th minute of the first half.
The Miners exacted some revenge from their 2023 loss to Wasatch. Their season is off to the hottest possible start; they’re now 2-0 with their next contest coming up this weekend at Skyline.
“It’s the willingness for me to fight for the rest of my team,” said Kindt on her assisting efforts. “No one wants to go in overtime. No one wants to risk penalty kicks.”
Kindt led the 2023 state finalist team with 10 assists. The team desperately wants to make it back to Real Salt Lake’s America First Field for another title game, but they’re currently taking it game by game. They know nothing is guaranteed from their success last season.
Hull was ecstatic Kindt got her that pass for the game-winner.
“Such a good feeling, especially knowing like I didn’t do it by myself,” Hull said on the play. “I had my team backing me the whole way.”
Hull said the whole team took an attacking, play-to-win mindset toward the remainder of the game, following Wasatch’s equalizer.
While the season is extremely young, head coach Anthony DiCicco acknowledged their was pride on the line in this rivalry game. He said a lot of these games are mental, and Park City hadn’t defeated the Wasps since 2020. Park City hadn’t posted a winning season since 2020 before last season.
“This group has established that no matter what happens, they’re going to stay together,” said DiCicco. “We’ve conceded late goals before and found ways to to win games. … we’re happy to walk away with result against a really good Wasatch team.”
As a larger school, Wasatch plays in the 5A classification, where they were state quarterfinalists last year. Park City plays in the 4A classification.
DiCicco said he’s loving to see his team playing for the right reasons early in the season — the love of the game, each other and the future of the program. He thinks it helps them that they have their goals and motivations so clearly ironed out.
Saturday’s game against Wasatch will be the Miners first road test, happening at 9 a.m. The soccer season entails a long 17 games in the regular season, with potential for another five postseason games. Park City is getting five tough, non-regional games in before the players start school.
“The big thing with all these preseason non-region games for us is we’re still experimenting,” said DiCicco on the team’s current goals. “We’re still trying different personnel groupings. We’re trying to get everybody healthy and layer in our fitness.”
DiCicco said his team will be ready for a Skyline team that used to be a regional foe full of familiar faces. After Skyline, the team comes back home Monday for a matchup with Uintah.