RENO - When the Carson boys soccer team earned a tough 1-0 victory over Wooster on Sept. 19, it was evident that the Colts were a program on the rise. On Saturday at Wooster High School, the Colts took it one more step and overcame a 2-0 deficit to draw with the Senators.
Colts junior Jeremy Packer caught emergency goalkeeper Drew Good flat-footed with a bender from about 30 yards out to tie the game 2-2 in the 76th minute.
Carson couldn't cash in on a pair of free kicks late in the last minutes and during the post-game handshake it was the charged-up Colts who were wearing grins and looking like they'd won the game, while the Senators were quiet and wearing long faces.
"Rightly so," said Carson coach Jason Koop. "We still haven't lost in league, so it almost feels like losing. When you're up 2-0 in the final 15 minutes, you expect to win. You should win. But we decided not to play the full 80 minutes. Solid teams play for the full 80 minutes. If they don't, they pay for it. Today, we did."
The first-place Senators, now 7-0-3 in the Sierra League and 16-1-4 overall, and fourth-place Wooster, 4-3-3, 5-3-4, played a scoreless 60 minutes until Brady Roser's goal put Carson up 1-0.
Lining up for a free kick, Good faced a four-man Wooster wall, but instead of putting the boot to it, he put a delicate touch on the ball and found Roser, who stepped behind the wall and beat Colts goalkeeper Jose Felipe.
"We set that up - it was a designed play," Koop said. "Roser got outside of the wall and he's left-footed. When he slid behind them they had no one to cover and he put it in the net."
Koop also had praise for junior Nik Marsh, who gave Carson a 2-0 lead in the 62nd minute on a feed from Good. But following the goal, the Senators self-destructed.
Carson outshot the Colts 5-1 in the first half, but Wooster's determination paid off and it matched the Senators with three shots in the second half.
Felipe finished with four saves.
Carson keeper Brandon Briggs played an aggressive game in front of the net, often shouting for a defender to get back as he came out for the ball and booted it downfield. He was forced to make zero saves, but after disagreeing with the officials was yellow-carded and had to temporarily leave the game in the 70th minute.
With backup keeper Ryan Lee ineligible for the game, Good was forced to mind the net.
Wooster's Juanito Garcia, who was assured by Colts coach Mike Hammond earlier that it would be his day to make a difference, did exactly that by drawing Good away from the net and cutting the lead to 2-1 in the 68th minute, energizing the Colts' bench.
"We're not out of this yet!" Hammond shouted from the sideline.
"I think he's one of the bellweathers for our team," Hammond later said of Garcia. "When he's (on), everybody feeds on his energy."
One of those players was Packer, who caught Good unaware with his long-distance blast.
"We kind of lacked (energy) a little, but we came on strong," Packer said. "We turned it up."
Asked if his team wanted to meet Carson again sometime this year, Packer grinned.
"Definitely. We'll take them on any time," he said.
Hammond echoed the sentiment.
"We've got their number," Hammond said. "It's just a matter of time. Our team's still all 11th graders. Next year will be sunshine and happy faces."
Koop responded to the observation that the Senators were downcast, like they'd just lost the game.
"They should be," he said. "When you let a team in the game when it's 2-0, when you mentally let down and have no self control...they deserve it. We played 65 minutes of soccer and decided it was enough.
"Mentally, when you've got a two-goal lead, you're like, We've got this game. Then you start yelling about things you shouldn't be. That's why Briggs got sent off. It wasn't the fielder's (Good's) fault. (Packer) put it on frame. What do you expect a field player to do? Good played outstanding on the field."
Carson will travel to Minden to meet archrival Douglas in its next match. The game begins at 7 p.m. Monday at Douglas High School. The Senators took a 2-1 win over the Tigers in their first meeting on Oct. 3.