After Park City’s boys lacrosse posted just two goals in a disappointing 14-2 loss to Colorado’s Cherry Creek last week, the Miners matched that total in only a couple of minutes in Wednesday’s 15-10 win over Westlake at Matt Knoop Memorial Park. 

The Miners had five goals in the first quarter and nine in the first half. Park City led 12-3 at one point in the third quarter, and that was enough to hold off a late Westlake rally and return to the win column. The Miners are 9-1 on the season ahead of a clash against rival Wasatch on the road on Friday. 

“Offense did a reasonable job today,” Park City coach Michael Persky said. “Jack Ronan played well, Riley Mulholland did a real good job of settling the game, Chase (Beyer) always does a good job. Overall, there were more positives than negatives today, and that’s a good thing.”

Beyer found the back of the net off an assist from freshman Sam Gould just over a minute into the game, and Mulholland doubled the Park City lead moments later. Beyer found Mulholland for another Park City goal late in the first quarter. Two more Park City tallies in the final minute of the frame gave the Miners a 5-0 lead entering the second quarter. 

“That felt good, yeah,” Mulholland said. “Felt like kind of garbage goals, but just definitely getting the team going and the push that we needed to strive in the first half. And I wish we carried that onto the second half of this game.”

After Westlake put itself on the board early in the second quarter, freshman Wade Birch responded with another Park City goal. Mulholland completed his hat trick with another goal just 12 seconds later and would finish the day with four after a tally late in the fourth quarter to put Westlake away for good. Park City would end up leading 9-3 at halftime after sophomore Ian Marsland scored with a couple of ticks left in the half on a feed from Gould. 

Mulholland had multiple assists in addition to his four goals, so the senior played a significant role in the Miners’ offensive rebound on Wednesday.

“The goals are good, the assists are better,” Persky said. “I think he did a real nice job of settling us down (in) the second half when we needed it. Just looking for his matchups, taking advantage of them but slowing the pace, controlling the ball and then he had a couple of nice looks inside to Jack (Ronan).”

Park City picked up in the second half where it left off, scoring three unanswered goals in the opening minutes. That run included both Beyer and Ronan scoring their third goal of the game. Ronan tied Mulholland’s four goals after another goal in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t just them carrying the Park City attack. Several Miners found the back of the net, including underclassmen Birch, Marsland and Gould. 

“I think that’s what we aim for every game, especially in these types of games,” Ronan said. “We just try to get these young kids to get some confidence, I think. Because sometimes we play some other teams, they get kind of down in the dirt sometimes. But I think just as long as we build them back up like this, they’ll be ready for end-of-the-season stuff.”

Most of Park City’s goals were assisted, so they were the product of cohesive team play rather than one-man shows. After a difficult day against Cherry Creek last week, it showed what the Miners are capable of when everything clicks.

“A big point of emphasis for us is being unselfish, sharing the ball,” Persky said. “We know when we move the ball, we’re good. And I thought the offense did a much better job of catching and throwing today.”

But Westlake ended up slightly outscoring the Miners in the second half, bolstered by a 4-0 run in the middle of the third quarter. Mid-game injuries to seniors Gavin Beichner and Jack McHenry played a role, but it was also a learning experience for a young Park City team on closing games out.

“We haven’t been the second-half team that we have this season so far,” Mulholland said. “That’s who we want to be. We want to be better in the second half than we are in the first half.”

However, after the two-goal performance against Cherry Creek, Park City had a much-needed bounceback win. If last week was a wake-up call, the Miners responded accordingly.

“I think that it’s just – two on the board last week just kind of woke us up a little bit,” Ronan said. “Realized we weren’t as good as we thought we were and just got back to the basics. And I think we did pretty well.”