Carson High's girls soccer team finds itself in a familiar position heading into its last two games of the regular season.
The Senators, with road games at Manogue and Galena left on their schedule, still are undefeated at 12-0-2 after easily disposing of Wooster 9-0 Tuesday to wrap up the Sierra League title.
There was no wild post-game celebration on the field. Either the girls didn't know or didn't care because they have bigger fish to fry. A year ago, Carson went 13-0-3 and lost two straight post-season games to miss the state playoffs.
Carson, especially the seniors, don't want to go through the same thing this post-season.
"We've talked about continuing to play hard and play as a team," center fullback Natalie Stevens said. "This team really gets along well. Last year there were some players that had their own opinions about things and in a way that hurt us.
"Winning league is one of our goals. We've got to keep going and work just as hard to get it (the trophy) at the end."
Stevens and the rest of the Senators know that Manogue and Galena would like nothing more than to knock the Senators off their unbeaten perch. The next two games won't be a walk in the park like Tuesday was.
Carson's midfield and front line went up and down the field at will against the game Colts. Carson outshot Wooster 34-2, as Kenzie Tillitt scored a hat trick, Eliza Matley added two goals and Emmy Heller, Josie Daggs and Alexandra Schlager and Ali Cowan added one each.
"We moved the ball well," Carson coach Randy Roser said. "We came into the game wanting to move the ball which we did. Wooster just had a little trouble getting organized."
And, getting the ball out of their own end. The Colts turned the ball over several times on their half of the field, and you can't do that against a team like Carson.
The Senators scored their first three goals in the first 6 minutes 15 seconds of the match.
Daggs got things started with 37:41 left, converting a nice through ball and outracing Wooster defenders to the goal. Less than two minutes later, Tillitt scored the first of her three goals. After Matley hit the post with 34:22 left, Tillitt took a pass from Daggs and scored again with 33:45 remaining to make it 3-0.
The next 14-plus minutes were uneventful until Schlager powered one home to make it 4-0 with 19:55 left. Matley scored the next two goals, one on a header, to make it 6-0 at the half.
Tillitt scored her final goal six minutes into the second half, and three minutes later, Heller scored for a 7-0 lead. Heller, normally the team's goalie, got an opportunity to play in the field and she took advantage of it. The final Carson score came around the 78th minute when Cowan left-footed one past the Wooster keeper.