The Salt Lake Sting was a professional soccer team based in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. They played in the
American Professional Soccer League
The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...
. The club was originally owned by Jack Donovan, who was also the head of the ownership group for Salt Lake City's minor league baseball team of the era, the
Salt Lake Trappers. The Sting lasted parts of two seasons, but financial concerns caused league officials to shut the franchise down in midseason on July 5, 1991.
Stadium
The Sting played their short career at
Derks Field, a minor-league baseball stadium. The field was laid out in the outfield, and a portion of the field was dirt because it was the infield portion of the baseball diamond.
Initial season
Nearly 10,000 fans attended the first game in April, 1990. The club averaged 5,400 attendees over the 13 games of the first season. This thrilled the ownership as they were hoping to average 2,500. A crowd of 9,439 watched the final game against the
San Diego Nomads. The Sting ended the season with a 12-8 record and second place in the Western Soccer League conference. They were knocked out of the playoffs by the
Colorado Foxes
The Colorado Foxes were a professional men's soccer club originally based in Commerce City, Colorado, that played in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and USL A-League. Founded in 1990, the club moved to San Diego, California in ...
2-1 and 4-1.
George Pastor was the second leading scorer and
Derek Sanderson
Derek Michael Sanderson (born June 16, 1946), nicknamed "Turk", is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and two-time Stanley Cup champion who helped transform the culture of the professional athlete in the 1970s era. He set up the e ...
was the fifth leading scorer in the APSL.
Second season
Director Fred Gray had high hopes for the 1991 season with new coach Valery Volostnykn.
[Deseret News](_blank)
/ref> The new squad returned leading scorer George Pastor and added local talent Steve Sengelmann of Provo and goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
Pat Vietti of Salt Lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...
. The club ended the season with a 3-17 record and folded before the final game could be played.
Ownership
* Jack Donovan
Staff
* Fred Gray - General Manager
Fred Gray Public Relations Director/Director of Soccer Operations
Coaching
The team was coached by Laurie Calloway from England during their rookie season in 1990.
Players
* :Salt Lake Sting players
Year-by-year
References
{{American Professional Soccer League seasons
Soccer clubs in Salt Lake City
Defunct soccer clubs in Utah
American Professional Soccer League teams
1990 establishments in Utah
1991 disestablishments in Utah
Association football clubs established in 1990
Association football clubs disestablished in 1991