The sun fell, the Miners girls soccer fans packed the Dozier Field stands and the senior night ceremonies were off Monday night. Park City was honoring 13 seniors in their second-to-last regular-season home game against regional foe Hillcrest. The Miners went on to dominate and defeated Hillcrest 5-0. The team’s goals came early and late in the 80-minute game, with senior Sutton Hull striking first at five minutes into the first half. Hull is one of the Miners star players, a scorer. Hull went on to score the game’s final goal in the 70th minute in the second half. Fellow seniors Piper Hastings and Rae Roderick also scored against Hillcrest, with Hasting’s goal assisted by her younger sister Riley, whom head coach Anthony DiCicco promoted for the game. Freshman Maddie McCallion also scored Monday, and seniors Lauren Kindt and Abby Hanton and sophomore Elsa Dellenbach had assists. The majority of Park City’s scoring opportunities came from moving the ball through the left side of the Hillcrest defense. The Miners also diced up that same defense Aug. 28 in a 7-1 road victory. Senior girls soccer player Caroline Retzer streaks up the field with the ball during the team’s senior night contest with Hillcrest Monday night. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“Senior night is always an emotional game, and it comes with its own unique set of challenges,” said DiCicco. “The goals we scored tonight were excellent. Our possession is a continued evolution. But, was really positive overall tonight. Really proud of the group, proud of our senior class and excited to get on to the next one as well.”The Miners’ next game is Thursday at home against Tooele at 3:30 p.m. at Quinn’s Junction. The team will close their regular season next Wednesday at Murray. The playoff brackets will be revealed Oct. 5, when the Miners should have done enough with their 12-3 record to secure one of the eight playoff byes and some home field advantage. The top-four seeds will secure home field advantage until the semifinals at Zions Bank Stadium and final at America First Field (Real Salt Lake’s stadium), where Park City hopes to find themselves again this year. The team’s 2023 season ended with a heartbreaking finals loss to Green Canyon. “The night before we play the senior night game, we gather as a program to talk about what our seniors have meant to the program and to the players that follow,” said DiCicco. “This particular senior class has been at the core of the resurgence of the program, transforming it back into what it’s become. The program had won some state championships several years ago, that’s what our pursuit is again.”The Miners girls soccer squad celebrates a goal by senior Sutton Hull on Monday night against senior night opponent Hillcrest, whom they defeated 5-0. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordBefore many of these seniors reached the varsity level, the program was struggling — going 3-15 in 2021 and 5-11 in 2022. DiCicco was able to start his seniors and give them large amounts of playing time, which many would already normally get, because of the score.DiCicco believes his team is getting ready to play their best soccer when it matters most next month. He wants to see them keep creating good opportunities on offense, score off those chances and be solid defensively. “When you’re going to take an evening out to honor the senior class, you want to do it the right way,” said DiCicco on getting all his seniors in the game. “Part of that was getting our three senior siblings some minutes today, and this was Riley’s (Hastings) varsity debut.”Riley was thrilled to get her older sister the assist, whom she reveres as a great role model. Piper said scoring on senior night, on an assist from her sister, in front of family and friends put the cherry on top of her soccer career. “I have had quite a journey in high school soccer, and soccer is just the love of my life,” said Piper. “She (Riley) got a cross on, and I was right there and scored, and it was the best part of the night. I am so grateful that I got to enjoy that.“Girls soccer, we usually don’t get this much of a crowd, so right before the game started, looking back at the big crowd almost filling out the stands, it just made the night even better.”Piper thinks the team has what it takes to make it back to America First Field next month. She said the group is working as hard as possible to make it happen. On Piper’s goal, Riley said assisting on it made her day. The sophomore plays on Park City’s freshman/sophomore team. Members of the packed Dozier Field crowd hold up signs in support of their Park City girls soccer team. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“I was so nervous,” admitted Riley. “I’m on the freshman/sophomore team, so playing up for varsity is a great opportunity.“I’m pretty proud of the way I played. … Assisting my sister was my goal because she needed that goal. I know she wanted that so bad.”Riley plans on being a part of the packed stands wherever the Miners play down the road as they chase the state title. She draws inspiration, along with surely many others in her shoes, from her sister and this successful varsity team. The post Miners girls soccer dominates Hillcrest on senior night appeared first on Park Record.