Long shot lifts Park City over Waterford in OT

PARK CITY — With the star player sidelined, an unassuming sophomore, also the mayor's son, stepped in and saved the day for top-ranked Park City.

Playing significant minutes because of Paul Loboschefsky's hamstring injury, Ryan Williams made the most of his opportunity by unleashing a 30-yard game-winner nine minutes into overtime as Park City beat Waterford 1-0 Monday.

"I just noticed nobody was around me, and I saw the goalie was off his line," said Williams, who shot with his right foot.

"Ryan has a great left foot, and he's been working very hard to improve his right," said Park City coach Mike Guetschow.

Williams' perfect right-footed shot helped the Miners advance to Friday's semifinals, where it will face Ogden at 4 p.m. at Juan Diego High School. It is Park City's 12th straight final four appearance.

Park City had countless opportunities prior to Williams' heroics to score a goal. Unfortunately for the Miners, they were playing Waterford, a team with a knack for pulling off the unthinkable.

In winning last year's 3A championship, Waterford played brilliant defensive soccer in knocking off heavy favorites like Ogden and Delta along the way. A year later, Waterford was hoping to put together another string of victories against heavily favored opponents.

Park City came into the game with an unbeaten record, but Waterford had the ultimate equalizer — confidence. As far as the Ravens were concerned, if they did it once they could do it again.

So as Park City squandered chance after chance, Waterford's hopes grew.

"They were concentrating on defense and trying to counter attack, and all it takes is a couple of good touches and they could've gone 80 yards and scored," said Guetschow.

After Waterford's Daniel Duke hit the crossbar in the fifth minute, Park City limited the Ravens' scoring chances to the occasional throw-in or corner kick.

Park City, meanwhile, had numerous chances. Nik Tucker put a header wide in the eighth minute, while Aleks Roising missed in the 11th minute. Two minutes later Matt Smith missed. The trend continued throughout the second half, as an increasingly fatigued Waterford team began packing it in more and more.

"It would've been thievery if we'd won it," said Waterford coach Bob Capener. "I thought in the end when we packed it in, (Park City) handled it well."

No one handled it better than the son of Park City mayor Dana Williams.

"I'm just trying to help the seniors win a title before they go," said Ryan Williams. "I know it's very important to them, and it's important to me."

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com