Following a 2-2 tie with Carson in the Sierra League opener on Saturday, Reno assistant coach Jay Salter quickly dismissed the idea that the Senators and South Tahoe are the teams to beat.
"We're the defending zone champs," Salter said. "South Tahoe and Carson aren't the teams to beat, we're the team to beat. But as you can see, anybody in this league has a chance to win."
The Huskies didn't show it yesterday at Carson High, but neither did the Senators. It was an unattractive game between two teams who tied for second place in league standings last year. Carson eventually got the No. 2 seed in the Northern 4A playoffs but was upset in the first round by McQueen. The Huskies went on to win zone, then were outclassed by eventual state champion Chaparral in the state semifinals.
Reno went up 1-0 in just the second minute of play when Dominic Licata scored on pass from Robert Langsner. Carson struck back in the 15th minute, though, when freshman Loren Wooldridge bulled over a Husky defender and their goalie to tie it 1. It was Wooldridge's third goal of the season after scoring two in a 3-1 over McQueen on Wednesday.
The game went back and forth until halftime, then things got interesting the second half.
Ernesto Ayala put the Senators up 2-1 in the 42nd minute with a spectacular goal that came a result of hard work, a rarity for Carson during the game. Ayala chased down a ball that looked like it would go over the end line, then got possession after nudging out Reno goalie Felipe Miranda and, with a deft touch, chipped the ball to far post.
Other than one mistake Miranda, though, was probably the best player for Reno.
"Their keeper kept them in the game," Carson goalie Jim Nealis said. "Any ball within 20 yards of the goal he had. I'm not happy at all (with the loss). We didn't get into a rhythm today and a lot of that had to do with them. They were very intense and played with a lot of heart. And we didn't respond."
In the 46th minute, Reno tied it when Licata flicked on a weak header off a Langsner cross, which beat Senator goalie Sean Carter to the near post. It was a physical game most of the second half, but some quality scoring chances managed to come out of it.
In the 54th minute, Jesse Steele got taken down after playing a nice through ball to Wooldridge, who had a wide open 1-on-1 chance. But the referee brought the ball back after failing to play the advantage call. But Wooldridge had another uncontested chance two minutes later, but was denied by Miranda.
The Huskies (2-0 overall, 0-0-1 Sierra League) should've taken the lead later in the half when Carter didn't cleanly collect Langsner's cross and let it roll past him. Reno's Richard Kraus then had a wide open net but was denied by Carter's great reaction save.
Carson missed a golden opportunity in the 82nd minute after Bryce Burgess was taken down in the box and the Senators were given a penalty kick. Jeff Rogers, who said he's never missed a PK in his high school career, had his shot saved by Miranda, then Steele followed the shot and had a wide-open goal from eight yards out. But his shot pinged off the post and bounced across the front of the goal before the Huskies cleared.
"We should've made them chase more," Nealis said. "There was too much standing around and watching today, and that goes for all 11 players. Overall, I wasn't pleased with our defense or our offense."
The Huskies, who lost key players to graduation in Kavan Lynn and Jorge Cubero off last year's team, were happy to come away with a point.
"Yeah, we're happy with it," Salter said. "It was a good game by both teams, a well played game. But we have a lot of room of improvement."
CARSON JV 13, RENO 0
Eddie Lanuza scored four goals and Steve Mandoki scored three more in the Senators' shutout win over the Huskies. Jordan Wilcher added five assists and Jake Newman scored two more goals to help give Carson its second win of the season. The Senators beat McQueen 4-1 earlier this week.