It was certainly a tale of two halves.
Carson High dominated the first half, getting goals from Brandi Vega and Taylor Musselman, but then had to fight off a late surge by South Tahoe for a 2-1 Sierra League win Saturday afternoon at Carson High School.
The win gave Carson sole possession of first place with a 4-0-1 record. South Tahoe dropped to 3-1-1.
The game wasn't decided until the final moments, and freshman keeper Jennifer Johnson had to make a big save in extra time to preserve the win and keep the Senators unbeaten.
"It feels great (to be in first)," Vega said. "We worked hard and came out on top. South Tahoe is a very physical team. They always play that way."
"Everybody doubted us in the preseason," Carson coach Randy Rosser said. "We lost to Manogue and Elko, and everybody got all worked up. Now they see."
Carson outshot South Tahoe 13-2 in the first half, but it wasn't until the 22nd minute when the Senators finally broke through on Vega's goal from approximately 25 yards out over the head of keeper Elle Vermillion.
Vega had missed some open shots in recent games, and Roser said she wasn't being aggressive enough in taking shots.
"I didn't think I had an open shot at first, so I dribbled and finally saw a shot I could take," Vega said.
South Tahoe almost tied the score 17 seconds later, as Cassidy Berg fired one that Johnson had to make a diving stop on.
About five minutes later, Musselman, a freshman, corralled a loose ball and fired a shot that hit the left upright and ended up in the upper right-hand corner of the net in the 29th minute to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.
Each team had a good scoring opportunity in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but came up empty. Rebecca Kane missed wide left and South Tahoe's Karli Vath also missed wide left.
South Tahoe sliced the lead to 2-1 in the 58th minute when Gina Locicero connected from about 30 yards out. Johnson acted like the shot was going to be wide and appeared to overrun the ball, only to see it slip just inside the post on the left side.
"She thought it was wide, and it ended up being six inches inside the post," Roser said. "They are taught that anything on the ground they are supposed to smother and anything in the air to punch it if they can't catch it (cleanly)."
The game got extremely physical over the final 20-plus minutes.
Carson's Kayla Sanchez and South Tahoe's Mackenna Lynn exchanged shoves. Both received yellow cards. Sanchez left the game for several minutes, and picked up another yellow card on her return and was ejected. Roser said he wasn't sure whether Sanchez would be able to play against Wooster on Tuesday.
The clock was shut off with two minutes left, and the teams played nearly four more minutes, and it was in that extra time that South Tahoe almost tied the game.
"It was the tale of two halves," South Tahoe coach Cliff Lockhart said. "They played well in the first half, and we played well in the second half. Carson is a good team. They have some good players. It's always a tough battle."
Vega attributed the sluggish second half to the wind. Carson was going into the wind the final 40 minutes.
"The wind forced us to play it down low," she said.
"We couldn't pound it downfield," Roser said. "We had to build it from the back. Tahoe goes body first and ball second on defense."
JV: CARSON 2, SOUTH TAHOE 1
Miriah Tompkins and Emily Field scored a goal each, as the Senators outlasted South Tahoe.
The game was marred by a severe head injury to a South Tahoe player, who was knocked out and had to be taken to the hospital.
Ashley Turner and Krystina Kane played well in the midfield for Carson, and Julianne King, Samantha Fishburn and Maria Garcia played well on the back line.