In her fifth year as head coach of the Park City High School girls’ lacrosse team, Amy Hafets is on cloud nine. Or maybe you could say she’s in a coach’s dream.
“From a coaching standpoint, there are qualities on this team that aren’t really teachable,” Hafets said.
The Miners are currently 5-1, with their lone loss of the season coming to the defending state champion Alta Hawks. Park City is coming off an impressive 12-10 victory at home Tuesday afternoon against Judge Memorial.
After the Miners stormed out to a 7-2 lead, the Bulldogs made a run and got within striking distance in the fourth quarter. Assistant coach Julie Glusker, in her first year with the program, said the small yet imposing senior class stepped up to quell any further goals by Judge.
“We lost some vigor and those upperclassmen were able to stabilize the game,” Glusker said. “It’s really fun to coach this group. There’s a lot of talent and certainly a lot of energy.”
“It was a very, very tight game,” Hafets said. “The lapse always makes them a little bit nervous. I was very proud of them to come back and get the win and pick up the intensity. It’s good to see that type of adversity and challenge. It’s definitely positive. It was a little touch-and-go there for a while.”
The team, which made it as far as the state semifinals the last two seasons and the state championship the year before that, is a conglomerate of what every coach wishes she had: An experienced group of juniors and seniors who have played on the bigger stages, and a plethora of sophomores and freshmen who have incredibly high potential.
“I think it’s been a really nice pairing this year,” Hafets said. “We graduated a really large group and lost quite a few starters. Coming in, we weren’t 100 percent certain of where we were going to be as a team. We’ve been impressed with the juniors and seniors and their ability to focus, and seeing the sophomores and freshmen step up the intensity.”
Glusker, who has been coaching lacrosse for 23 years, said this group of players is as fun a squad as she has ever coached. From a fundamental standpoint, she said, the team has ability she has rarely seen.
“We’re really lucky in that we have all of it,” she said. “We have some natural athletes, some kids that just have it instinctively.”
Senior Katie Baker leads the team with 15 goals scored and has notched two assists this season. Junior Samantha Meyer has 13 goals and seven assists for the Miners, while senior Meghan Kellner has scored 11 goals and dished out five assists.
Freshman Danielle Lecher (nine goals, one assist) and sophomore Caitlin Jarrett (seven goals, three assists) are also among the state’s leaders on the statistical sheet.
Glusker looks back to last year when she wasn’t able to make it to many games and heard that, while the team was losing many of its starters, 2011 would be looked upon as a year to groom youngsters for the future.
It hasn’t been the case, so far.
“I heard it was going to be a rebuilding year,” she said, laughing. “This has been a situation where underclassmen have stepped up on the field and have a lot of energy. They are all over the field. They are not afraid to mix it up with any level of player. They put a lot of intensity and focus into their play.
Of the top 29 teams in the state, according to www.laxpower.com, Park City is ranked second and is currently ranked atop of its conference above teams such as Olympus, Skyline, Judge and Murray.
Most coaches will tell you they’d like to see their kids raising a trophy once the dust settles at the end of the season. But Hafets said the main point is to see the players progress and to win games and hope the two can coincide.
“We hold our girls to very high expectations and ask the most from them and demand everything we can,” she said. “Ideally, that would be the ultimate goal, and enjoying the journey and seeing the growth in the game.”