Juan Diego finally gets it going in win

PARK CITY — With 75 percent of its preseason litmus test complete, things looked pretty bleak for Juan Diego's boys soccer team.

Before the season, the top-ranked Soaring Eagle lined up back-to-back preseason contests at 3A runner-up Logan and at 3A defending champ Park City. Many thought the tough early-season games would help Juan Diego clearly assert itself as the team to beat in the classification.

Didn't work out that way.

After getting whipped by No. 3 Logan a day earlier, Juan Diego struggled mightily again during the first half of its contest against second-ranked Park City on Saturday afternoon.

However, the team finally started to show flashes of its potential after halftime. The performance wasn't great by any means, but it was vastly better than it had been. And, thanks to a second-half stoppage time goal from Kevin Flynn, it ended with a 1-0 win for 10-man Juan Diego.

"We started out the first half, and I was thinking, 'We are not nearly the team that I was expecting,'" said first-year coach Scott Platz. "But you know what? It's still early in the season...This is all experimental. This is a good win to have, but we've got to worry about what's happening in May, not what's happening in March."

Two things factored into Juan Diego's second-half improvement.

First, after watching Park City win almost every 50-50 ball in the first half, Platz got out of a 4-3-3 formation and moved Flynn alongside Ryan Beck in midfield. Flynn supplied critical support to Beck, who had been outnumbered.

Secondly, Juan Diego exerted a much better effort after star Angel Enriquez was shown a red card in the 48th minute. The Soaring Eagle played a man down for the rest of the match, but it finally started to work together.

"Second half, the spark that made us work harder was Angel getting that red card," said forward Damian Malouf, who has committed to Westminster. "After that, we just sparked and just started playing like a team."

Juan Diego won the contest when Flynn clipped the ball over Park City's 'keeper in the 81st minute.

The Soaring Eagle has played without several key players so far, and it will undoubtedly benefit once they're back. Park City also has players missing. Star forward A.J. Gitlin is out with a knee injury, and midfielder Chase Gordon has been away from the squad. A year ago, Park City had 10 seniors in its lineup. Against Juan Diego, it started six sophomores.

"There will be a little sharper learning curve this year," joked coach Mike Guetschow.

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