The Salt Lake Sting was a professional soccer team based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. They played in the American Professional 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 Derks Field was a minor league baseball park in the western United States, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the home field of the Salt Lake Bees, Angels, and Gulls of the Pacific Coast League, Bees, Giants, and Trappers of the Pioneer B ...

, 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 Nomads Soccer Club (formerly San Diego Nomads) is an American soccer club based in San Diego, California. From 1986 to 1990, the club fielded a professional senior team, but has since operated as an amateur and youth club. History The Nomads we ...

. 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 soccer team, based in Commerce City, Colorado, that played in the American Professional Soccer League, and later in the A-League, between 1990 and 1997. The Foxes won two APSL titles, in 1992 and 1993. In 19 ...

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. The two-time Sta ...

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.http://www.deseretnews.com/article/158965/ The new squad returned leading scored George Pastor and added local talent Steve Sengelmann of Provo and

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

Pat Vietti of Salt Lake. The club ended the season with a 3-17 record and folded before the final game could be played.

Ownership

* Jack Donovan

Staff

* Mark Hugo - General Manager * Dave Baggott - Assistant 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. The coach for the Salt Lake Sting in 1991 was Valery Volostnykh from Russia who previously coached at Real Santa Barbara. * Laurie Calloway (1990) *

Valery Volostnykh The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...

(1991)

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