First high school game of season yields win for Carbon girls soccer

By Sun Advocate

In the first game of any kind of the new high school athletic season, the Carbon High girls soccer team ran all over Granger High in a non-league game on Friday night in West Valley City and started their young season off right, 2-0.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said head girls soccer coach Dave Capalbo. “The day before the game Grangers coach called me and told me she wasn’t even sure if they would have enough players to field a team. I just told her we would match their number of players on the field and she agreed.”
When the team arrived at the Granite School District high school on Friday however, they found that Granger had 19 players lined up to play them.
“That was as many players as we had brought along,” said Capalbo. “So we played it straight up and by the book.”
At halftime the score stood at 0-0, but one big statistic stood out; Granger had only had one shot on goal during the game because Carbon’s defense was so good the play almost all took place in front of the Lady Lancers goal.
With about two minutes gone in the second period, Carbon struck with fury. Shanna Oakley drove in a goal, the first of the year and the Dinos were up 1-0. Oakley’s father, Dennis, happens to be one of the coaches of the team.
About ten minutes later another goal, driven in by Julie Swineburn went through the net.
When the game ended, even if one had not known the score they would have known who won the game just by the stats. Carbon had taken 18 shots on goal; Granger had taken one, and a weak one at that.
“I could see at halftime how tired the Granger kids were,” said Capalbo. “I told our team that only a few minutes into the second half we would be running circles around them. Our condition was so much better. That’s what you get when you start working out in June.”
Capalbo also had to tease his goalie, Danni Long, about her part in the game.
“I told her she must have been napping down there in the goal with so few scoring threats by Granger in the game,” he said.
Carbons preseason schedule continues on Thursday evening when they take on the Lady Miners of Park City in Summit County.