For a brief moment, Julian Martinez was suffering from flashbacks. His Park City team, though, was suffering from overconficence.
After losing the state championship last year in a shoothout, Martinez starting seeing the same thing happening as the Miners found themselves trailing Snow Canyou 3-2 after thriee rounds of kicks. Park City goalie Sean Tolpinrud came up huge for the Miners, though, and stuffed the final two Warrior shots giving the top-ranked team a 3-2 win."Losing in (a shootout) is the worst thing there is," Martinez said. "You don't have your team working out there. It's just one guy. After what happened last year, I know what they're feeling."
The shootout would explain Martinez's flashbacks. The Miners' overconfidence was a direct result of scoring two relatively easy golas in the game's first 15 minutes. Up 2-0, the Miners relaxed and struggled to find the same shots they had in the game's opening minutes. "You might call it getting greedy," Martinez said. "They tried to drive through everybody. When you hold the ball too long, somebody is going to take it from you."
The lack of passing from the offense led to a pair of Snow Canyon goals that probably shouldn't have been scored. On both goals, the Park City defense didn't get back in time and Tolpinrud had to race out to meet the attack. And in both cases, Snow Canyon was able to sneak the ball around him for uncontested shots.
"I had to try and get the pass before he did," Tolpinrud said of the second goal he allowed. "I went to kick it and missed."
He may have made a mistake on the particular play, but Tolpinrud atoned for his error in the shoot-out. He did so by playing mind games with his opponent.
Park City found itself trailing 3-2 after three rounds of kicks. Lucas Sanchez, who also scored the Miners' first goal, then evened the score at 4-4. Tolpinrud promptly stuffed Snow Canyon's fourth kick to even the score. Kyle Bryson then put Park City ahead by softly putting the ball behind a diving Warrior goalie and set the stage for Tolpinrud's mind game.
The senior Miner, instead of settling in at the net to defend, walked toward his opponent. He extended his hand and said a few words.
"I have not idea what his name was, I just said 'Good luck, Jeff' The ref didn't like that," Tolpinrud said. "I was just trying to psyche him out."
Give the man his degree in psychology, because the shot he faced was almost directly at him and easily turned away, giving the Miners the win.
In other action:
Lehi 3, Delta 2 (SO): Jayson Chamberlain scored the game winner in the shootout to give the pioneers an upset win over second-ranked Delta. Jacob Hafen and Ben Beck also scored for Lehi.
Beck's goal came with about six minutes left in refulation and forced overtime. Both the Rabbits and Pioneers were unable to score in the extra periods before Ethan Adams stopped enough Delta shots to give Lehi the win. The Pioneers advance to play Wasatch.
Wasatch 3, HGurricane 1: Hurricane scored first when Casey Hutchings got a shot to roll between the legs of Wasp goalie Penn Owens. Wasatch responded quickly, however, as Christian Duncan scored a minute later off a Lewis Monaco assist.
The game remained tied until the overtime period when Steve Sparti scored on a corner kick in OT's first minute. Travis Pitts put the game away with his 15th goal of the year with three minutes to play.
Softball
Region 1
Roy 8, Northridge 2: Natalie Schonfield;s three-run homer in the seventh inning broke open a tight game and helped the Royals dump the Knights.
Region 6/7
Murray 8, Granice 0: Cari Dallof threw a five-inning no-hitter for the Spartans as they blitzed the Farmers. Dallof finished with seven strikeouts, while Vicki Nieswender had two RBIs.
Baseball
Region 12
Millard 9, Rowland Hall 4
Millard 9, Rowland Hall 6: Dustin Aldridge and Mike Blad each had a double and homerun as the Eagles swept a pair from the Winged Lions. Millard now plays Juab today in as part of a four-way playoff for third and fourth in the region.