It's difficult to stick to the game plan when a team is superior than its opponent, but the Carson High boys soccer team didn't do too bad of a job overall in accomplishing that.
Carson (5-0, 3-0 in the Sierra League) rolled to a 7-0 win over Damonte Ranch on Saturday at CHS.
"I'm pleased with what we've done," Carson coach Jason Koop said. "It's hard to do the things we need to do, what we do as a team against a team we know we're going to do well against.
"We tend to go away from what we do at practice. We tend to do things individually."
Carson had trouble finishing early in the game as it could have easily had a 4-0 lead in the first five minutes. Enrique Mendoza, who had three goals, ended the drought when he sent a shot into the right corner of the net. Micah Laack scored the next two goals, sending a shot into the left corner of the net and then stealing the ball from a defender and beating the goalie on a one-on-one situation.
Zach Weismann sent a shot into the left corner of the net to make it 4-0. The last goal of the first half was a thing of beauty. Much like a post player in basketball, Mendoza had perfect position on his defender when he took a pass from Chris Browne. He went on to spin around the defender and scored.
The shortest player on the field, Adam Updegrove, who's about 5-3, almost scored on a header to end the half.
Mats Boehnke, who had two assists, sent a ball forward to Mendoza, who scored his final goal on a breakaway early in the second half. Koop could see the final goal develop beautifully from the sideline when John Nuthall sent a pass from the left side to the right side where Alex Kaskie was there to put it in.
"Watch the far post, watch the far post," said Koop as the play developed. "There he is, there he is, yeah baby."
Carson outshot Damonte 41-3. Brandon Briggs played three-fourths of the game and made two saves at goalie to post the shutout and Ryan Lee finished up. Others who took shots included Christian Volker, Drew Good, Brady Roser, Browne, Nuthall, Blake Moreland and J.P. McFarren.
DOUGLAS 7,
NORTH VALLEYS 1
Michael Gransbery had two goals and two assists, giving him 15 goals for the season and 45 for his career for Douglas (8-1, 2-1). Edgar Arceo scored twice, Michael Barnes had two goals and an assist and Derek Cantley and Geoff Rahe each added an assist.
The Tigers' other goal came off of a corner kick by Oscar Gonzalez when North Valleys sent the ball into its own net. Jeff Crozier posted eight saves and Ross Gardner and Eddie Vega also played well for Douglas.