SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - When you are the fastest high school girl in Nevada, it doesn't taken much to find a seam on the soccer field. Carson's Kayla Sanchez found several of them on Tuesday and made the Vikings pay each time.
Sanchez, the two-time defending 4A state champion in the 100 and 200-meter dashes and 300 low hurdles, scored two goals and assisted on another as the Senators beat South Tahoe 3-2 in a key Sierra League game at South Tahoe Middle School.
"We do have great team speed," said Carson coach Randy Roser, whose team improves to 10-2-2 overall and 10-0-2 in league. "Ann Sinnott and Brandi Vega are also fast players, but Kayla just stands out more. That's what happens when you are the fastest girl in the state."
The Senators extended their winning streak to 12 games and all but wrapped up their second consecutive league title. With two games left, Carson is in first place with 32 points, Reno is second with 27 points and South Tahoe is in third with 24 points.
The Huskies still must face playoff teams in Douglas and Carson, while the Vikings face North Valleys and Hug in the next week.
"It's important for us to get that No. 2 seed for our confidence," said first-year STHS coach Clint Lockhart. "We thought we could put ourselves in position to do that with a win today, but we need to continue to play hard these last two games. Of all the teams we've played this year, Carson is the premier team."
The Vikings, though, had the defending champs on their heels early, using a goal from Nina Thompson in the game's opening minutes to go up 1-0. Carson applied decent pressure the rest of the half, but was never able to spring Sanchez free in dangerous spots in front of the net.
That all changed in the second half, when the speedy junior forward found the equalizer on a breakaway in the 42nd minute. Then in the 59th minute, Sanchez broke free down the sideline and played a cross toward Sinnott, who turned and blasted a shot into the upper corner.
Sanchez added what proved to be game-winning goal in the 77th minute, slipping past the STHS defense on another breakaway and chipping a shot over goalie Elle Vermillion for a 3-1 advantage. In the 79th minute, the Vikings' Karli Vath scored off an indirect kick from Janelle Perasso that was bobbled by the goalie, but South Tahoe couldn't produce another scoring chance before the final whistle blew.
"We contained her pretty good, but she is obviously one of the fastest girls in the state," Lockhart said of Sanchez. "I have no problem with how the girls played. They played their hearts out.
"After losing 2-1 to them in Carson and now 3-2, we feel we have a shot at reversing one of those scores if we see them again. This was a playoff-caliber game today. It almost had a state final feel to it."