The Carson High boys soccer team took a step to clinching second place in the Sierra League by beating Wooster 3-1 in an extremely physical game on Saturday in Reno.
The game was played on Wooster's football field, giving the players much less room to move around, which led to a physical game. Each team was called for one red card and the two teams also combined for three yellow cards.
"The space that we had was very tough," Carson coach Jason Koop said. "That means it's going to be a physical game when there's not a whole of space to move around."
Carson improved to 9-1-3 in league play. With a tie or win against Reno High, the Senators will clinch second place. Carson will host Reno at 7 p.m. Monday in the regular season finale.
Carson struck first off of a rebound of Brady Roser's corner kick. Royal Good was able to score off the rebound.
But Wooster tied the game 1-1 at halftime on a penalty kick after Mats Boehnke made a slide tackle on a Wooster player right at the edge of the goalie box. It appeared that Boehnke may have made a clean tackle. "I'm not going to argue the call. He did go down," said Koop about the Wooster player.
The Senators scored with 20 minutes left when Wooster was unable to clear a loose ball and Edgar Gomez took advantage to score. "We ended up being at the right spot at the right time," Koop said.
Carson scored an insurance goal with 10 minutes left on a beautiful play by Micah Laack, who set up Gomez for his second goal. "Edgar was just sitting and waiting," Koop said. "It was just picture perfect."
After the Gomez goal, Koop said "It started deteriorating from there." He also said his team was just as responsible for how the game deteriorated as Wooster.
Laack received a red card after he retaliated against a Wooster player. "He was pushed pretty hard and he pushed back," Koop said. Laack in ineligible to play against Reno.
DOUGLAS 1, RENO 0
The Douglas High boys soccer team kept its hopes of finishing second in the Sierra League alive with the win. Douglas needs to beat Wooster at home on Monday and also needs Reno to defeat Carson to finish second.
Douglas scored five minutes into the second half when David Sturgess scored on a header off of Justin Norvell's indirect kick.
The Tigers outshot Reno 8-4. "It was an extremely physical match," Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said. "I thought everybody stepped up to the plate. I thought they showed true character."
Norvell and Travis Goldade played well defensively and Sturgess, Martin Rubio, Michael Gransbery, Michael Barnes, Brandon Carlson and Steve Done also played well at midfield.
Goalie Chris Aguilar preserved the shutout with three outstanding saves in the second half. "Chris had a sensational second half," Vasquez said.