There were no letdowns for the Carson High boys soccer team. And CHS coach Jason Koop is trying to make sure there will be no more letdowns.
Carson cruised to an 8-0 win over Hug on Saturday at home to move into sole possession of first in the Sierra League. CHS (11-1, 8-1) is in first by itself thanks to a 1-1 tie between South Tahoe (7-1-1) and Reno High (6-2-1).
"We talked about keeping our intensity through the end of the year," Carson coach Jason Koop said. "We've still got a lot of work to do.
"I'm very happy with the way we're playing as a team. We're not going to overlook anybody. We can't have any letdowns."
Enrique Mendoza had two goals and three assists for Carson, which scored twice in the first 10 minutes to take control. Christian Volker scored and then Zach Weismann scored on an assist from Micah Laack. Volker scored again on a shot from 25 yards. "It was a great shot," Koop said.
Mendoza scored on a breakaway off of a ball sent forward by Weismann and Laack scored to make it 5-0 and appeared to score again on a beautiful play. No. 19 crossed the ball from the left side and Laack was there to score on a header. But the goal was disallowed because there was a foul called away from the play and Carson settled for a 5-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, Laack scored on a breakway on a ball sent forward by Weismann, Martin Azzam scored on a pass from the left side by Mendoza and Mendoza scored off of his own corner kick when he sent a ball from the left corner that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and fell behind the goal line.
While Brandon Briggs went virtually unchallenged in posting the shutout, Koop praised his goalie's play.
"Briggs did a great job reading balls," Koop said. "He wasn't challenged that much. Just the way he controls the ball really helps us in the back."
DOUGLAS 9, DAMONTE 0
Michael Barnes scored four goals and Michael Gransbery added three goals in the win for Douglas (11-4, 5-4) over Damonte Ranch. The Tigers led 8-0 at halftime and finished the game with seven players in an effort to keep the score down.
Gransbery now has 24 goals on the year and 55 for his career. Andrew Andraski and Jake O'Farrell also scored. Edgar Arceo had two assists and Eddie Vega, Oscar Gonzalez, Geoff Rahe and Andraski all added an assist.
Jose Alcaraz and Andraski went unchallenged in the goal in posting the shutout as Damonte didn't take a shot.