Utah Sol: Finals! / The Wallace House

Utah Sol: Finals!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Utah Sol had a great year.

We played in the semi-final game on Wednesday night. We were down 1-0 at halftime and still down 1-0 with only a few minutes left. I thought the game was over and then Kylie Gardner scores a goal!! We celebrated then I looked at my stopwatch: 10 seconds left! The ref blew the whistle right after kick-off. Since we were tied we played two 5-minute overtimes and then, since we were still tied, went to a PK shootout.

Round 1
Utah Sol shot first. An off-target shot. Miss.
Red Bullets shoot. McKenzie stops it!
Tied 0-0

Round 2
Utah Sol shoots. Natalie scores! Utah Sol 1-0.
Red Bullets shoot. McKenzie stops it again!! Utah Sol 1-0.

Round 3
Utah Sol shoots. Keeper stops it. Utah Sol 1-0.
Red Bullets shoot. They score. Tied 1-1.

Round 4
Utah Sol shoots. Keeper stops it. Tied 1-1.
Red Bullets shoot. McKenzie stops it! Tied 1-1.

Round 5
Utah Sol shoots. Christi scores!! Utah Sol 2-1
**If Red Bullets make this shot, we repeat the PK lineup with the same 5 girls in the same order until 1 team makes it and the other team misses**
Red Bullets shoot. The shot hits the top crossbar and goes over the goal.

UTAH SOL WINS!!!! The crowd went wild. Everyone ran onto the field (including fans)! The girls were so excited. Utah Sol has never made it to the final round. They hadn't ever even made it to the semi-final round. Last year we got out in a PK shootout in quarter-finals and all the years before that they never made it past pool play.

Then we played our final game yesterday. The girls played so well and fought so hard. Blue Angels scored first. Then Kyliee Olsen scored to tie the game 1-1. Kyliee Olsen then scored again to put Utah Sol in the lead 2-1. Blue Angels scored a little later to tie the game 2-2. We were 2-2 at halftime and all the way until the last 5 minutes of the second half. Then Blue Angels scored to bring the score to 3-2 Blue Angels. Unfortunately, Utah Sol just didn't have the time to put in another goal to tie the game and we came out second but I am so proud of how far they came this season. 2nd place is definitely something to be celebrated!!! The girls were bummed but they were such great sports and couldn't stop talking about how excited they were to take second place! I'm so proud of what good sports they are. Look at their facebook updates:

McKenzie: Great game Utah Sol, even though we didn't win, that was the greatest game ever! I love you guys so much and will miss all of you!
Riley: Got 2nd in the tournament!! Oh well who cares if we did not get 1st!! This year Was not the year too win!! This was the year to make us stronger as a team!!
Yasmin: 2nd place! Good game sol! I love you guys!♥ :D let's keep our heads up high!

After the game we celebrated as a team at Pizza Pie Cafe. The girls had so much fun together! I'm so going to miss Utah Sol. I'll admit, when it finally hit me last night that I had just coached my last ever game with Utah Sol I broke down and cried. We've come so far as a team and I'll miss all the girls so much! We have so many fun memories like summer soccer camp, tournaments, intense games, awesome wins, fun practices, late-nights, sleepovers, and many more. I'm so grateful for the two years I had to coach all of these amazing girls! Here's to hoping they all continue in soccer and improve every year and become super soccer stars. I'll be rooting for them the rest of my life whether they are all on the same team or split to different teams.