One could forgive the Carson High boys soccer team if it didn't give Hug the proper respect.
Carson has always been used to dispatching Hug with ease. But on Wednesday at CHS, the Senators struggled through a sluggish first half before pulling away for a 9-1 win.
"The second half was much better than the first half," Carson coach Jim Nealis said. "We were able to step it up and play close to where we can play.
"We came out very flat in the first half. We took them too lightly."
Carson jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Ernesto Ayala scored both goals for the Senators. But late in the first half, Hug scored on a penalty kick to cut the lead to 2-1.
"I'm real disappointed that they scored on us," Nealis said. "They were playing on our half of the field."
But Carson answered one minute later when Royal Good sent a beautiful pass forward to set up Jordan Wilcher, who put the ball in the left corner of the net from the right side to give the Senators a 3-1 lead.
Defender Dan Berger set up Edgar Gomez with a long pass on a free kick, with Gomez scoring on a breakaway to give Carson a 4-1 lead. One minute later, Ayala, even though he was tripped, got up to score his third goal.
Berger sent another free kick from the defensive side of the field to set up Loren Wooldridge, who timed the pass perfectly so he wasn't offsides. Wooldridge scored to make it 6-1.
Bud Kop then centered a pass from the right side tp set up Logan Ahl, whose shot deflected off a defender and into the net. Goalie Robby Liebherr followed by punting the ball forward to Wooldridge, who beat the goalie to the ball and sent a beautiful header into the net.
Kurt Schlicker scored off of another assist from Good to finish the scoring.