SANDY — About a month into the 2010 season, it seemed as if Lehi's bubble was on the verge of bursting.
Before a ball had been kicked this spring, the senior-laden Pioneers believed they were going to go out and accomplish a number of special things.
Yet just a few weeks later, everything seemed to be collapsing.
Several key players had gone down injured.
Other players missed time for other reasons.
And then came the shocker: Coach Steve McMurdie, who had built Lehi's program from the ground up over the past five years, made the agonizing decision to walk away from coaching in the middle of the year to take care of his family.
To their credit, however, Lehi's players didn't let all of that adversity ruin their season.
McMurdie left his beloved soccer program in the trusted hands of assistant Jerry Preisendorf, and the Pioneers have subsequently accomplished — up to this point — all the special things they hoped they would.
Heading into his team's last — and greatest — test, a date with Bonneville at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon in the 4A championship at Rio Tinto Stadium, Preisendorf couldn't help but marvel at how well his players have responded to adversity this spring.
"I'm very proud of them," he said. "I think this year has shown to me that there's no quit in them. The injuries, Steve leaving — there's been a lot of things that have gone down — and they've been able to focus on the soccer, which has been very nice."
That stars Ian Ramos, Spencer Gray and their stellar supporting cast have been able to focus on the soccer after McMurdie abruptly left is awfully impressive.
According to Preisendorf, McMurdie has stepped completely away from Lehi soccer over the past month and a half in an effort to not be a distraction to the team, but the two coaches still keep in frequent contact with one another.
"I still call him a dork every time I see him," cracked Preisendorf, who isn't sure yet whether he'll coach beyond this season. "I said, 'You gotta give me some warning.' He and I had an agreement that when he resigned, I was gonna resign first. But he didn't want that to happen. He wanted some consistency."
Lehi's players have seemed to have fed off that consistency — and off the consistency they've had from playing club soccer with each other for years — and have simply gone from strength to strength.
Preisendorf introduced a five-step process to his players when he took over, and they've accomplished four of the five things — heading into tonight.
"When Steve left, I told them there were five steps in this process, and they all looked at me like, 'Five steps?' " says Preisendorf. "Step 1 is region, Step 2 is first round, Step 3 is second round, Step 4 is semis and Step 5 is the finals."
Preisendorf quickly pointed out that Step 5 will be the most difficult, but he's thrilled that his guys have the opportunity to try and beat a Bonneville team today that's filled with talented players.
e-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com