| Carbon Dino Lacey Timothy races for the ball against a Union player during a game held last week. The Dinos recently completed preseason competition with a 2-4 record and will move on to participate in region eight competition. The Dinos will kick off the regular season Thursday in Moab and will host their first home game of the regular season Sept. 10. |
Despite being a relatively young team, the Carbon Dinos soccer club has showed many improvements and have displayed incredible talent during the preseason.
The final game of the preseason took place Tuesday afternoon at the College of Eastern Utah field. Because the Dinos do not have a home field of their own, the team will play few home games this season. They did however host Tooele as they prepared for regular season competition.
The showdown involved a tight defensive battle. This is something which the Dinos have become accustomed to during the preseason as the team displays strong defensive talent.
The two teams battled back and forth until Tooele finally scored just before the half. The Dinos entered the halftime trailing Tooele 1-0.
The second half of competition found the teams once again battling for the coveted goal. Tooele scored 10 minutes into the half, but the Dinos came right back with a goal of their own.
The goal was scored by Julie Swinburne who took advantage of a fast break and left footed a shot into the net.
According to Dinos coach Dave Capalbo, Carbon continued to rally after closing in on Tooele however, the visiting team got the ball over and behind the Dinos defense for an insurance score.
The Dinos failed to even the score and fell to Tooele 3-1. This brought the preseason to a close for the Dinos who finished the early season with a 2-4 record.
Coach Capalbo explained that he attempted to schedule highly competative games for the Dinos so that the team would have the experience they needed to succeed during the season.
“Last year we struggled against almost every team. This year I felt that by competing against successful teams we would be able to step up our game and gain valuable playing experience,” explained the Dino coach earlier this year.
Experience is exactly what the team gained. Despite losing four of the six games played in the preseason, the Dino team displayed extraordinary talent and proved that this year’s team has truly stepped up from last season and it is expected that the team will fair quite well during the regular season.
“In our first year, we went eight consecutive games without scoring. Other coaches told me they started teams and went two and a half years before they scored their first goal and three years or more before they won their first game,” explained coach Capalbo.
For a team which has only been in existance for the three years, the Dinos have proved that soccer is a sport which can be quite successful in Carbon County.
The Dinos will begin the region eight competition Thursday afternoon as the team travels to Moab. Here they will compete in the first game of the season and the team intends on returning home with their first victory of the year.