Carson spent the last two practice days working on its 4-4-2 alignment in an effort to bolster its inconsistent offense.
The move put a little more pressure on the defense to cover the entire field with one less player back, but Carson played superbly in a 3-1 win Wednesday over Fallon in a Sierra League boys soccer match at Carson.
Carson, which has already clinched a berth in the upcoming regional playoffs, improved to 9-3-1 heading into Saturday's game (9 a.m.) against archrival Douglas. In 13 league matches, Carson hasn't yielded more than one goal in a game.
"We played good as a team," fullback Nate Eng said. "We were pinching in and sagging as a team. It really takes the whole team to play good defense.
"We're trying to play every game like we're playing for the state championship."
That isn't beyond the realm of possibility, though Carson will need to play better offensively the last two games of the regular season and throughout the regional playoffs to get into state.
Carson coach Nate Brigham praised the play of midfielders Humberto Elizondo, Gustavo Gonzalez, Javier Barrios and Moises Romo. The back row was led by Guillermo Alonso, Brian Duran and Eng.
"We spent two days working on this," Brigham. "It was nice to see that we executed it. It gives us two options to play now.
"This was our best game in terms of positioning."
Carson's defense will get a severe test against Douglas and its standout Edgar Arceo.
"Running around chasing one player (Arceo) would take our one player out of the game," Brigham said. "I'm not going to mark him the entire game. That puts too much emphasis on one player.
"When he has the ball, somebody needs to be around him. On their field, he doesn't have a lot of room. Our field is wider, and he has more room to work."
Carson took a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute when Izzy Lopez took a through ball from Luis Camacho and easily beat Fallon keeper Adan Gonzales, who had come too far out of his box.
Fallon had an opportunity in the 12th minute, but Alfredo Gonzales' direct kick sailed well over the crossbar.
Romo had a good opportunity in the 25th minute, but didn't convert. He made up for that about two minutes later when he blasted a shot by Adan Gonzales, who had failed to corral Barrios' shot, to make it 2-0.
Neither team threatened in the final 13 minutes. The teams had five shots apiece in the opening 40 minutes.
Carson tacked on an insurance goal in the opening minute of the second half as Camacho scored.
Fallon scored its only goal of the game less than two minutes later when Rosalio Silva beat Pedro Chavez. The Carson goalie was unable to secure the original shot and Silva popped it into the left corner to make it 3-1.
The only other serious attempt by either side came in the 67th minute when Adan Gonzales came out hard and deflected a shot by Ian Gunn.
Brigham subbed his four strikers liberally, as Gunn and Lopez only played half the game. Brigham said he used the substitutes to keep everybody fresh. With games Saturday and Monday, Brigham has to use his bench wisely.
Carson played a little faster at the outset of the match, and that seemed to set the tempo, according to Fallon coach Nate Waite.
"Carson came out aggressive and I think we let that get to us," said Waite. " Their speed hurt us a little the second half (when) we went after the ball a little more. We just weren't able to convert and that's how it ended."
JUNIOR VARSITY
CARSON 6, FALLON 0
Sam Hutchinson and Alexis Avila each had a goal and an assist to lead the Senators past Fallon on Wednesday night.
Francisco Barrios, Nick Emmons, Nate King and Dan Zuber added a goal apiece. Edgar Medina and Danny Alonso contributed assists. Charles Larkin recorded the shutout in goal.
Carson improved to 10-1-1.