Soccer wrap: Vega ties state record in Carson victory

Nevada Appeal Staff Report

Carson High's Brandi Vega tied the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association state record for most career goals for the Senators girls soccer team in a 5-1 win at Damonte Ranch on Saturday.

Vega scored three goals to tie the record of 56. Vega will go for the state record at 7 p.m. Tuesday when the Senators host Galena in a key Sierra League game at the CHS football field.

The result of the game will go a long way in determining Carson's playoff hopes. The Grizzlies won the first meeting at Galena 3-2. Galena will be coming off a solid effort on Saturday in which it tied South Tahoe 0-0.

"We're hopefully looking to break the record on Tuesday night against Galena," said Carson Coach Randy Roser about Vega.

Vega already holds the state career record for assists and she added an assist on Saturday to pad her state record total to 57.

Vega scored on an assist from Helaine Berris in the first three minutes, then scored again on another assist from Berris. Miriah Tompkins scored on an assist from Vega to give Carson a 3-0 halftime lead.

Ciara O'Driscoll scored on an assist from Haley Hallaran to pull Damonte to within 3-1, but Vega answered on an assist from Tompkins and Tompkins scored her second goal to finish the scoring.

Kate Schulz was in goal for Carson and for good measure, Vega finished up at goalie. Carson is hoping to have starting goalie Jen Johnson, who's been out with an injury, back for Tuesday's game.

Starting center defender Emily Field has also been out with an injury, but Roser said Nikki Updegrove did a solid job in her place on Saturday. Roser also praised the offensive attack of Vega, Berris, Taylor Musselman and Brenda Luquin.

"We played really well overall actually," Roser said.

CHS BOYS 7, DAMONTE RANCH 0

Carson set up the showdown for first place in the Sierra League with the easy win at Damonte.

Carson and Galena will face each other in the showdown for first at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the CHS football field. Carson will come in with 26 points at 8-1-1 in league while Galena will come in with 25 points at 7-0-3.

In the first meeting the Grizzlies beat Carson 2-0 at Galena. The Grizzlies will also be coming off a 2-0 win over South Tahoe on Saturday.

"The only team that we haven't been able to beat yet this year," said Carson coach Nate Brigham about Galena. "It will be a very good game and will likely decide who will be Sierra League champions this year."

Against Damonte, Jaime Lopez scored on an assist from Blake Moreland and Adam Updegrove scored on an assist from Brady Roser to give Carson a 2-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Updegrove and Cyrill Suter scored, Miguel Camacho scored on an assist from Lopez, Suter scored and Ian Gunn scored on an assist from Lopez.

The game gave Brigham a chance to give his bench players plenty of playing time. Among those who receive considerable playing time was Lopez, who had one goal and two assists after normally seeing about 10 to 15 minutes of playing time a game.

Ryan Lee also had the chance to play the whole game at goal in place of regular goalie Brandon Briggs. Lee made a save on the only shot he had to face.

"They performed very well," said Brigham about his bench players. "It was a good chance for them to get into the flow of our offense. It will benefit us in the long run in close games."

DOUGLAS BOYS 1, WOOSTER 0

Defensive midfielder Andrew Andraski scored in the 44th minute to lead the Tigers to a victory over rugged Wooster. After Andraski carried it down the middle, his shot deflected off the Wooster goalkeeper but he followed his own shot to put it away.

Ivan Gonzalez recorded seven saves for Douglas, who kept the pressure on the Colts until the final 10 minutes.

"Gonzalez played a really, really good game," said Douglas coach Milko Vasquez. "Our defense played outstanding. They played very methodically and nonchalant, but critical. We're still mathematically alive. We'll play until they tell us we're dead. We're not; we're still kicking."

The Tigers improved to 4-5-1 in Sierra League play and 10-8-1 overall.

Vasquez singled out his back line of Fabian Ramos, Brian Randall, Jeff Crozier, Dylan Colbert and Edgar Gonzalez. Colbert left the game with 5 minutes remaining in the game. Vasquez said Colbert had a chipped ankle bone and suffered a torn ligament.

Douglas will look to stay in the playoff hunt when it hosts Bishop Manogue on Wednesday.