If the home opener in the Men's Premier Soccer League is any indication of how the Utah Salt Ratz season is going to be, the Ratz are in for a promising first year. The Salt Ratz blew out the Northern Nevada Aces 5-0 at Juan Diego High School Saturday night.
The field conditions could best be described as sloppy, but the fans seemed to enjoy watching players slide and dive through the mud. By the end of the game it was tough to distinguish which team wore yellow (Ratz) and which wore red (Aces). Still, Utah created and capitalized on numerous scoring opportunities.
It took the Ratz 16j minutes to net the first goal. Roy High senior Bret Shimizu took a nice pass from Ryan Hansen and slotted it past the keeper. Just five minutes later KC Nordfors headed home the first of his two goals on a cross from former Alta star Scott Jones. Utah took a 2-0 lead into halftime and never looked back.
"Our team finished well. Obviously any time you get five goals, it means you are doing something right," said Utah coach Dominic Militello. "I feel we play some very entertaining soccer, and I was happy with our effort tonight," added Militello.
The second half consisted of a goal by Jeff Burt sandwiched between the second goals of the night by Shimizu and Nordfors. The Ratz used a nice mixture of long-ball and building an attack from the midfield to create numerous scoring chances. Although the score would not reflect it, Ace goalie Carlos Rengifo played well — if not for the athletic, well-positioned keeper, Utah could have scored in double digits.
To be fair, the Aces were playing on the second night of back-to-back games. The Ratz dropped a game to Chico earlier in the season in the same situation. "We really just want to win all the home games and split on the road. We feel that if we can do that, we can be right there," said Militello.