Carson girls win Galena tournament

While it wass still really the preason, if the Galena Tournament is any indication, the Carson and Galena High girls soccer team appear to be among the teams to beat - and evenly matched.

The Senators and Grizzlies played two 1-0 games on Saturday, but it was Carson who won the second game in the wild card round that allowed them to advance to the finals. Carson went on to beat South Tahoe 3-1 for the tournament title.

Even though the games were just 25-minute halves, it was clear that Carson and Galena were taking their second matchup seriously as the Senators moved Kayla Sanchez back to sweeper with about 10 minutes left in the game to protect their lead. Carson's girls also beat Reno High 5-0.

Carson's boys also had impressive showing as they finished 3-1, losing only to Northern 3A power Truckee, which is among Northern Nevada's top teams on any level. In an evenly matched game, Carson lost to Truckee 1-0. Truckee advanced to the finals. In Carson's other games on Saturday, the Senators beat Galena 2-1 and Manogue 2-0.

Carson played virtually the entire day without Brandi Vega, who rolled her ankle on Friday and was kept out as a precaution.

In the first game, Galena scored in the first half to take a 1-0 lead. "They controlled the first half," Carson coach Randy Roser said.

"The second half we came out and controlled the half. We were all over them. We just couldn't get it into the net."

In the second meeting, Carson took advantage of having the wind at its back by scoring with 20 seconds left in the half when Emily Field scored on an assist from Sanchez.

But Galena came back strong with the wind at its back in the second half. "The wind was definitely a factor," Roser said. "They were on us pretty hard. The girls played really well, kept their composure."

Roser moved Sanchez back to stop the onslaught in the second half. "Kayla just cleaned up everything back there," Roser said.

Against Reno, Sanchez scored twice and Emily Field, Rebecca Kane and Megan Jackson all scored once.

Against South Tahoe, Sanchez scored in the first five minutes of the game on a penalty kick after the Vikings were called for a hands violation in the goal box. Amanda Osborne and Kane scored to give Carson a 3-0 lead.

Goalie Jennifer Johnson gave up just three goals in the tournament and Roser said just one was really a legitimate goal. "Jennifer did an outstanding job," Roser said.

Roser said defenders Belle Fleming and Ashley Turner also had outstanding tournaments.

BOYS

Truckee scored with five minutes left in the game for the win against the Senators. Carson coach Jason Koop effectively went with his first team in the first half and his second team in the second half.

"It was pretty evenly matched I thought," said Koop about the matchup with Truckee. "Both teams had their chances. We and they couldn't finish very well."

Koop continued to substitute liberally against Galena and Manogue. Carson built a 2-0 lead against Galena with John Nuthall scoring one of the goals.

Against Manogue, Nuthall scored on a header off of Drew Good's crossing pass and Adam Updegrove scored with 10 seconds left in the game.

"We had a lot of good scoring opportunities," Koop said. "Against Manogue I though that was our best offensive effort of the weekend."

Koop said most of the goals that his team gave up came on breakaways and that goalie Brandon Briggs and defenders Drew Heller, Jorge Guevera, Brian Duran, Derek Sanchez and Matt Tillitt all played well.

DOUGLAS BOYS GO UNBEATEN

Douglas finished the Elko Tournament 4-0, beating Elko 2-1 in its final game in a showdown between unbeaten teams.

The Tigers also beat Spring Creek 2-1 on Saturday. Jeff Crozier scored both goals against Spring Creek. Both of his goals came on headers.

He scored his first goal off Eddie Vega's indirect kick and the go-ahead goal on an assist from Geoff Rahe.

Against Elko, Oscar Gonzalez scored on an assist from Vega in the first half. Vega scored on an assist from Ross Gardner in the second half.

The Tigers outscored their opponents 12-2 in the tournament. "Obviously our defense played very well this weekend," Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said.

Vasquez praised the play of defenders Kyle Gardner, Brian Randell, Rahe, Dustin Goldady, Ben Wood and Austin Schick.