MINDEN - While the Douglas boys' soccer team is seeing improvement every time out, coach Vince Brown said he's looking forward to seeing that ultimately translate to the scoreboard.
This came after a 4-0 loss at home to rival Carson on Wednesday in a match that saw Douglas control the flow for extended periods of time.
"We were comfortable starting out and commanded the first half," Brown said. "They got two goals on two shots late there and even then we were playing well enough to where I thought we could come back to win.
"They had an early goal in the second, though, that just kind of knocked our wind out."
Carson coach Eric Masters said he was pleased both with how his team responded to the rivalry atmosphere and how they adjusted to Douglas' offensive attack.
"It's a good result in a rivalry game," Masters said. "It never matters how either team is doing in the standings, it's always a hard-fought game.
"We're always glad to come away with a win in this matchup."
Douglas controlled possession through most of the first half, stringing together more scoring chances than Carson and out-shooting the Senators 7-2.
Then, in the 27th minute, Carson's Chris Espinosa collected a rebound in front of the net and blasted it past Douglas keeper Francisco Sanchez for the 1-0 lead.
The shot materialized after Sanchez made a solid save on a tough shot from the wing.
Nine minutes later, Carson's Johny Lopez sent a shot to the high right post off a cross from Cristian Hernandez to give the Senators a 2-0 lead.
Right off the opening kick in the second half, the Senators quickly pressed toward Douglas' net and Hernandez chipped a high-arcing shot just under the crossbar for the 3-0 lead.
From there, Douglas wasn't able to string together the passes it had in the first half, due to some timely adjustments from the Senator defense.
"We just talked at halftime about what they were trying to accomplish and what we needed to do to stop them," Masters said.
Douglas' best chance to get on the board came in the 55th minute when Jaden Mustacchio put a sharp header on a corner kick that Carson keeper Marco Magallon was just able to get to.
"We're definitely getting better," Brown said. "At some point, though, we're going to have to stop having good games and not getting goals to go with the effort. It's not going to matter too much how we play if we can't get the ball in the net."
Carson tacked on its final goal on another rebound shot, this one from Jason Martinez in the 57th minute.
For Carson, Magallon and sophomore Gustavo Villargrana combined for the shutout in net.