Wins have suddenly become hard to come by for the Carson High boys soccer team.
After ripping off eight straight wins to start the season, the Senators have a loss and two ties, including Saturday's 1-1 draw with visiting Hug, to show for their last three matches.
Carson is 8-1-2 heading into Wednesday's match at 3:30 at Douglas. The Senators handled the Tigers the first time around, and no doubt Douglas would like to avoid a season sweep.
"That's the way it goes," Carson coach Eric Masters said after the team's second consecutive tie. "We're not getting a whole lot of luck these days, and you need some. Teams are getting better organized.
"I thought we played well the second half. Their goal was a deflection. I'm not sure who it went off of, but I heard it."
Carson only had six shots on goal, as Hug played its sweeper very close to the goal; much deeper than most teams, and Carson had trouble adjusting.
"We had to change it up," Masters said. "We were trying to get something underneath in the open space where they can turn and run."
Hug led 1-0 at the half, as Diego Mora's shot got past Marco Magallon in the 29th minute. Carson had just one shot on goal after that, as Jaime Lopez was wide left in first half extra time.
Carson came out fast in the second half, as Sam Hutchinson evened the score in the 42nd minute thanks to an assist by Jason Martinez.
"The first half we came out slow," Hutchinson said. "At halftime coach told us to get our fire back. It was pretty evident we did that. After the goal, it was pretty even after that. I'm just glad Jason found me and I was able to get a good kick off."
In the 61st minute, Martinez pounded one off the crossbar, but the official ruled that it went off the football crossbar and gave Hug a goal kick.
The next three serious opportunities to score were all by Hug. The Hawks played a through ball to Eduardo Martin, who was unable to get off a clean shot. In the 70th minute, a corner kick ended up right in front of the Carson goal, but it was cleared away by a Carson defender. In the 78th minute, Edgar Jara put one over the crossbar.
And, now it's on to Douglas, and Hutchinson is prepared for the usually physical game that takes place with rivals.
"It's going to be a tough game," Hutchinson said. "They've improved. They tied Galena and we got beat by Galena.
"Playing on the grass hurts us because we like to play through balls on the turf field, and the grass field isn't as fast."
Also a negative is that Douglas' grass field is not as wide as its turf field which mean more players will be scrunched up in the same area.
• Carson's JV club improved to 10-0-1 with a 3-0 win over Hug.
Billy Goulardt (8th), Danny Zuber (15th) and Nick Emmons (35th) scored Carson's goals. All three were off assists by Francisco Barrios.
Gustavo Villagrana recorded his fifth straight shutout, and he got plenty of help from Adam Shoaf and Danny Alonso plus Goulardt, Barrios and Zuber.
CROSS COUNTRY
CARSON GIRLS SHINE
FRESNO, Calif. - Carson High's girls cross country team finished second to West Torrance in the Division II race at the prestigious Clovis Invitational Saturday afternoon at Woodward Park.
West Torrance finished with 92 points, while Carson had 172.
Six of Carson's seven runners turned in a personal best, according to coach Pete Sinnott. The coach was proud of the fact that there was just 62 seconds separating the first Carson runner to the fifth.
"We're getting stronger very practice; every meet," Sinnott said.
April Shonnard led the way with a PR of 19:21 good for 13th for the 3.1-mile course, which is annually used for the California high school championship. Alex Drozdoff was 17th in a PR of 19:29. Cindy Juchtzer was next, finishing 27th overall in 19:49, a PR for her. Amanda Gordon didn't PR, but she ran 20:22, which Sinnott was happy with. Mallory Wilson was 59th in 20:23, which is a PR. Erika Sosa was 87th in a PR of 21 minutes. Chelsea Gordon ran a 22:08, her PR.
The boys, who finished 14th, ran without Brandon Buonacorsi and Evan Richard, both of whom stayed behind to participate in homecoming. Buonacorsi was one of the king candidates.
Sinnott said the team improved its team time by two minutes, and Nick Greene, Taylor Bradshaw and Josh Van Sickle all PR'd.
Logan Philippi led Carson with a 16:47, while Green was 17:01, Bradshaw 17:08 and Van Sickle 17:17. Brent Moyle was next for the Senators at 17:41, and Sinnott said he's getting stronger and stronger. Dominic Kinder ran an 18:16.