PARK CITY — The Park City Miners just can't beat the Judge Bulldogs in the regular season. It's that simple. They can beat them in the playoffs, and they can win state championships, but when it comes to Region 10 soccer games, Judge has Park City's number.
The second-ranked Bulldogs beat the Miners 2-1 Thursday to sweep the season series, and improve to 7-1 in regular season games during the past four years.
For as intense and competitive as this rivalry has grown over the years, it's hard to imagine such dominance for either squad.
"It's a great rivalry," said Judge coach Wayne Voorhes.
Thursday's match wasn't a classic match in terms of brilliant soccer, but the result was sure typical of this rivalry.
Judge's Emily Robinson opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a 35-yard chip shot that Park City's freshman keeper misplayed.
"It was a game of mistakes. Unfortunately their keeper misplayed that ball and gave us a little momentum," said Voorhes.
Judge wasn't able to do much with that momentum as the scored remaining 1-0 heading into halftime.
Early in the second half, the Bulldogs' Kathleen Smyth appeared to blow the game wide open with a great individual effort goal in the box that put Judge up 2-0.
It took Park City freshman Kelli Isleib all of about 30 seconds to whittle that deficit in half with a breakaway of her own.
"That Isleib girl, she is a fantastic player, and she's only a freshman," said Voorhes.
Park City nearly tallied the equalizer in the waning minutes, but Judge keeper Alyssa Blackburn instinctively kicked a close-range shot by Catherine Johnson wide.
The win capped a perfect Region 10 season for the Bulldogs at 10-0, while the Miners fall to 5-2-2 with one game remaining.
Now Judge just needs to learn to duplicate that success in the playoffs. The Bulldogs have been the favorite at state the past three years, only to fall short each. Park City, meanwhile, has won three of the last five state titles.
Voorhes is all too familiar with his team's playoff misfortunes through the years, that's why he's tried a different approach this year. When Judge was laying out some team goals at the start of the season, Voorhes made sure none of them involved taking state.
He's been abiding by the classic clich, "We're just taking it one game at a time."
Come October, he just hopes that philosophy lands Judge its first state title.
In other games Tuesday:
REGION 1
DAVIS 3, VIEWMONT 2:Linsey Sekulich found the back of the net twice, and Shelli Gough added one to lead the third-ranked Darts.
LAYTON 2, FREMONT 0: The Lancers' Lindi Parkhurst shutout Silver Wolves in goal, while Annie Richins and Wendy Stratford took care of the goals.
WEBER 2, NORTHRIDGE 1:Nicole Rolling and Amanda Babb got one each for No. 4 Weber.
REGION 2
ALTA 4, BRIGHTON 1:Katie Larkin scored twice, and Katie Fellows and Allison Martino added one also as the No. 2 Hawks downed their rival Bengals to improve to 12-0-0. Brooke Grant scored for Brighton.
BINGHAM 2, HILLCREST 1:Mallory Maxfield and Jenni Wright got the Miners past Hillcrest.
JORDAN 9, WEST JORDAN 0:Lacy Jenkins, Amber Nordhagen and Amanda Feigt each scored twice to lead the No. 5 Beetdiggers to a blowout win.
RIVERTON 3, COPPER HILLS 0:Heather Godfrey shutout Copper Hills for the second time this season. Mandi Butterfield, Shanna Neilsen and Ali Philipoom provided the offense.
REGION 3
SKYLINE 5, COTTONWOOD 0:Whitney Beynon scored twice, while Lizzy Terry, Whitney Fenton and Lindie Theurer chipped in as the No. 1 Eagles pounded the Colts to wrap up the Region 3 championship.
HUNTER 2, KEARNS 1:Melissa Wayman scored in regulation and Kilee Quigley tied the game for Kearns a few minutes later. After Kearns missed a penalty kick in OT, Heidi Jorgensen scored the winner for Hunter.
TAYLORSVILLE 13, GRANGER 0:Cami Beckstrom and Jessica Carlson each scored three goals, and Ashlee Wright added two as the Warriors recorded a big win.
REGION 5
OLYMPUS 1, CYPRUS 0:Jennifer Brinkerhoff tallied the only goal the Titans needed to avoid a big upset.
WOODS CROSS 1, HIGHLAND 0:Kathryn Kitzmiller earned her fifth shutout for the Wildcats, while Kimly Anderson came up with the goal.
BOUNTIFUL 2, MURRAY 1:Alison Brinkerhoff scored for the Spartans in a losing effort.
EAST 3, WEST 1:Kirsten Nilsson, Sarah Butler and Sierra Smith scored goals to lead the third-ranked Leopards. Kate Schoenhals scored for the Panthers.
REGION 6
PROVO 4, AMERICAN FORK 0:Ariel Jordan and Gina Davis each scored two goals as the No. 5 Bulldogs kept the Cavemen winless in region. Davis has scored 23 goals this season.
SPRINGVILLE 3, SPANISH FORK 2:Brittany Siddoway scored twice and Brooke Schaertel scored the winner for Springville.
TIMPVIEW 4, PAYSON 0:Candice Clark scored twice as the fourth-ranked Thunderbirds improved to 7-1 in region.
REGION 7
LONE PEAK 7, PLEASANT GROVE 1:Whitney Wunderli and Addie Hair each scored twice to lead the Knights to the blowout win.
REGION 8
DELTA 9, GRAND 1: The Rabbits easily won to improve to 5-1 in region.
REGION 9
PINE VIEW 1, SNOW CANYON 0: The Panthers blanked the Warriors to improve to .500 in region.
HURRICANE 1, CEDAR 0: Hurricane pulled to .500 in Region 9 with a goal by Angie Hepworth.
CANYON VIEW 3, DIXIE 1:Donielle Mucci found the back of the net twice, and Charvel Christopher added a third goal as the fifth-ranked Falcons clinched the Region 9 title.
REGION 10
UNION 7, GRANITE 0:Mali Harrison scored three goals as the Cougars got their second region win.
WASATCH 5, UINTAH 2:Kidist Kennard scored three times to lead the Wasps. BreAna Hansen scored both goals for Uintah.
REGION 11
TOOELE 4, GRANTSVILLE 0: Grantsville continues searching for its first win. Four players scored in the win for Tooele.
MORGAN 1, BEN LOMOND 0:Rachel Zieglowski scored midway through the first half on a cross from Angela Olson to give the Trojans the narrow win over the third-ranked Scots.
OGDEN 4, BEAR RIVER 0: The top-ranked Tigers improved to 13-0-0, and are win away from an undefeated regular season.
REGION 14
ROWLAND HALL 3, ST. JOSEPH 1:Alex Milne, Katy Reineke and Sarah Hall all scored to keep No. 4 Rowland Hall undefeated in region play.
WATERFORD 4, SOUTH SUMMIT 1: Mary Beasley, Clair Filloux and Adelle Johnson all scored to give Waterford the win. Katie Balls got South Summit its second goal in six games.
E-MAIL: jedward@desnews.com