Salt Ratz claim big win over Sahuaros

DRAPER — The Utah Salt Ratz may not have had as much to play for in a rematch of last year's title contest of the Men's Premier Soccer League, but at this stage of the season, it was an important game in a race to make the playoffs. The Ratz played with the skill, desire and confidence they needed to down the Arizona Sahuaros 3-0 Friday night at Juan Diego's east field.

Utah entered the game fifth in the MPSL standings. With only four teams making the playoffs, and Arizona currently sitting in third place with a season-series tied against the Ratz, it was nearly a "must win" situation.

"It is their (the players) goal to make the playoffs. We have to wait for the rest of the weekend to see how much this win helped in the standings, but it does give us the tiebreaker over both Arizona and New Mexico," said coach Mike Hickman of the playoff situation.

With so much on the line for the Ratz, it was no surprise that they played inspired soccer for much of the contest. They created numerous scoring opportunities, and they limited the Sahuaros' chances to a minimum. Even after giving up three goals, keeper Mark Wilson was easily Arizona's player of the game. Without his many quality saves, the score could have blown out of control.

The chances started in the 14th minute when Christian Bowers fired a shot from 25 yards. It looked good all the way, but crashed off the back post and was cleared away by Arizona. It took only ten minutes more before Utah's KC Nordfors took a nice pass from TJ Waters and rocketed a left-foot blast past the keeper for the 1-0 lead.

Nordfors was again involved in a game-deciding play in the 37th minute. This time it was his hustle for a loose ball that frustrated Arizona defender Shawn Watson into throwing an intentional elbow at Nordfors face. The action got Watson a red card and automatic ejection. The Ratz were controlling play before the infraction, but with the man advantage, they began dominating the attack.

In the 58th minute Nordfors capped his performance by following up a Collin Orton shot and giving the Ratz a two-goal cushion.

"We capitalized on some of our chances this time that we haven't been doing this season — especially me," said Nordfors of the performance.

Last season Nordfors led the MPSL in scoring. This season has not been as easy. Teams have been marking him closer, and he has had some injury problems with his ankles, but hopefully for the Ratz, Friday's game was just a sign of his return to last season's form.

Bowers capped the scoring for the Ratz in the 86th minute with a goal on an assist from James Barnard.

Utah concludes its home games next weekend against the Idaho Wolves on Friday and an exhibition game against the Denver Kickers — that will be joining the league next season — on Saturday. Both games will be played at Juan Diego with kickoffs at 6 p.m.

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com