Some players slide when they slip, others when they don't give enough effort, but Carson senior forward Kayla Sanchez has been turning her sliding into an art form.
Sanchez scored two goals Tuesday for the Lady Senators soccer team, including a sliding score on a cross from junior Brandi Vega to give Carson a three-goal lead in the 60th minute in its 5-1 victory over Sierra League rival Damonte Ranch at Carson High School.
With the win, Carson improved to 4-1 in league and 12-2 overall, while the Mustangs dropped to 2-3, 7-6.
Although the Sanchez Slide didn't put any points on the board in a 5-3 victory over Reno on Monday, it added even more excitement to the already flamboyant game of the speedy Sanchez, who has run the 100-yard dash in 11.92 seconds and the 200 in 24.2 as a member of the CHS track team.
"I just want to get the ball in the net - if I have to slide, I'll slide. I don't care," Sanchez said.
It was the third consecutive game Sanchez has scored two goals and although she had several opportunities at scoring the hat trick, she elected instead to pass to her teammates.
Sanchez crossed to midfielder Amanda Osborne, who scored her fifth goal of the season in the 75th minute to give Carson the 5-1 lead. Sanchez also crossed to Brenda Luquin near the 6-yard line late in the game, but Luquin was unable to get the shot off in time.
"She's learned to use the outside of her foot," Carson coach Randy Roser said of Sanchez. "She's out there playing with Vega and learning from her. Her skills are coming along."
Carson outshot Damonte Ranch 12-2 in the first half and it was Vega and Sanchez who gave the Senators a 2-0 lead at the half. Vega went on a 40-yard jaunt before burying it in the right side of the net and Sanchez found herself all alone from about 25 yards out before taking it to the left side of the net in the 6th minute for her first goal of the game.
"Teams concentrate on Vega and Sanchez and we have (Becca) Kane and Osborne open to hit on the cross and others we can drop the ball to," Roser said.
One of those other players is junior Helaine Berris, who gave Carson a 3-0 lead at the 43-minute mark after getting the rebound off the crossbar on a shot by sophomore Taylor Mussleman.
Lilla Melton scored the Mustangs' only goal on a shot from about 18 yards out in the 48th minute to make it 3-1, but Sanchez later responded with her goal to put the game away. "The people I'm working with up front - Helaine and Brandi - are passing really well so I can get the ball in the net," said Sanchez, who added that she's about 60 percent recovered from a bout with a chest virus.
But just as man doesn't live by bread alone, Carson is not living and dying with their offense alone. Sophomore keeper Jennifer Johnson had five saves on six shots from Damonte Ranch and got plenty of help from her defense.
"Jen did well - she had that first diving save (in the 11th minute) and saved a couple more," Roser said. "She earned her stuff tonight. Ashley Turner is just a sophomore and she stepped in and controlled things with 'Belle' (senior defender Michelle Fleming) out. "(Turner) and Lauren Schulz played in the middle. We were very young on defense. We had three sophomores playing in the back: Emily Field, Julianne King and Samantha Fishburn. It was a challenge for them. They had to learn to play quick off the ball."
Fleming, who injured her knee and ankle after a Reno player took her out Monday, has been instrumental in leading the Senators defense and had a chance Tuesday to observe her team from the bench.
"Our 'D' has actually played very well," Fleming said. "I'm proud of the team with me not being in the game. We let one slip through, but after that one (goal) we got back. Tonight we played very well with four in back. Ashley Turner held it really nice in there. We've been marking tightly a lot. They can't get by us with that extra step."
After the Senators jumped up early, the Mustangs made a defensive adjustment of their own.
"They started by playing us six deep with two sweepers," Roser said of the Mustangs' tactics. "They wanted to slow it down and wait for us to get the through ball. We came out with the 3-4-3 in the second half and they literally played seven defenders. It doesn't help me by him (Mustangs coach Mark Picker) doing that."
The end result was around 14 players sardined into a 30-yard area and a lot of traffic. In that kind of situation, Carson's ability to pass instead of relying only on speed became the kind of challenge Roser forsees happening in the Senators' next opponent, at North Valleys on Saturday.
"We want to play North Valleys like we did tonight with our defense," Roser said. "We want to slow the pace down, builld our attack and use our speed to hit them."
The Senators-Panthers game begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
CARSON GIRLS JV 3, DAMONTE RANCH 1:
Natalie Stevens scored two goals and Shannon Ferguson added one as the Senators took a victory over the Mustangs at Carson High School.
Monica Chavez and Kate Schulz each added an assist as Carson improved to 8-2-1.