Two defensive lapses were the difference between Carson sharing first place or second place.
South Tahoe's Ian Chandler took advantage of both to score two goals to lead the Vikings to a 3-1 win over the Senators Saturday afternoon at Carson High School.
Carson and South Tahoe are both tied for second place at 4-1 with two games left in the first half of play.
"We're in the same position we were last year," Carson coach Jason Koop said. "I'm disappointed. Up until the second half, I thought we were evenly matched. The effort was there, just not in the direction we needed. The second half they took it to us.
"It's a different game if we finish the few good opportunities we had. There were times we had plenty of time to do something and waited too long. South Tahoe is a good team, and we knew that coming in."
It would have been a different game if Carson could have cleared the ball out of their own end cleanly.
Chandler's second goal came in the 50th minute when he somehow eluded Mats Boehnke and put one over the head of Carson keeper Brandon Briggs into the net to make it 2-1.
Briggs was kept busy most of the second half, collecting nine of his 11 saves in the final 40 minutes. Kopp blamed inconsistent midfield play for the amount of good opportunities South Tahoe had in the second half.
Carson had two good opportunities late in the game. The South Tahoe goalie punched a shot by Enrique Mendoza out of bounds in the 78th minute. Moments later Zach Weismann put one over the goal by a wide margin.
South Tahoe scored in extra time, as Bryan Garcia beat Briggs.
Carson had two opportunities from point-blank range in the first three minutes, and then Mendoza and Micah Laack also had good looks.
The game was scoreless until the 26th minute when John Nuthall tried to clear a loose ball in front of the net, and it slithered off the side of his foot. Chandler pounced on it and rammed it home for a 1-0 lead.
It's dangerous to clear a ball straight out from near the net. Usually you control it and kick it, or you just kick it out of bounds and give the other team a corner kick.
"He may have felt that he needed to play it out (right away)," Koop said. "He may not have felt he had time to control it first."
Carson had another brief flurry in the 26th minute, but its two shots were knocked down in the box.
The Senators finally tied the game at 1 when the South Tahoe goalie came out, and Laack easily put it past him.
"I thought we battled back and adjusted after that first goal," Koop said.
Needless to say, South Tahoe coach Chris DeLeon was happy to get away with a road win.
"It's not easy to come to somebody's home, especially here where the crowd is right behind you," he said. "It was a very physical game.
"I thought we created our opportunities. Our defense was solid and well organized. It was simple. It comes down to who makes the least amount of mistakes. We got caught ball watching on their goal."
And, this time it was South Tahoe.
JV: CARSON 4, SOUTH TAHOE 0
Uriel Duran, Brian Duran, Ian Gunn and Chase Losche scored a goal apiece to keep the Senators (7-0 overall, 5-0 league) unbeaten.
Carson's defense, led by Derek Sanchez, Jorge Guevara, Luis Aguilar and Philip Wortman earned praise from coach Joe Briggs for their defensive work. Ryan Lee and Pedro Chavez split the duty in goal.
South Tahoe didn't get a shot on goal until the 65th minute of the game.
DOUGLAS 6, HUG 1
Douglas played one of its best halves of the year in building a 5-0 halftime lead. "I like the way we played the first half," Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said. "I think it was one of the best halves we played all year."
Michael Gransbery scored three more goals to give him 18 for the year and 49 for his career. Gransbery scored in the first two minutes off of an assist from Edgar Arceo and then scored again on a cross from Michael Barnes seven minutes late.
Oscar Gonzalez scored off of Kyle Mannshreck's free kick from midfield, Arceo scored on an assist by Gonzalez and Dustin Goldade scored on an assist from Mannschreck to give Douglas a 5-0 halftime lead. Gransbery scored on an assist from Eddie Vega to make it 6-0.
Ray Kaffer, Geoff Rahe, Mannschreck and Brian Jaggard all played well defensively and Ross Gardner played well at midfield. Goalie Jose Alcaraz made four saves.