Miguel Ortiz.
Simply put, it was one of the more bizarre games of the season.
Yellow cards seemed to be the norm and not an aberration for Carson and Reed on Wednesday night, and for the second straight game, Carson finished with 10 players when forward Cristian Hernandez received two yellow cards and was ejected in the 69th minute.
The Senators still managed a less-than-impressive 2-0 win over the Raiders to run their record to 7-2-1 heading into Friday night’s game at Bishop Manogue.
“We played well in spurts,” Carson coach Mehdi Samii said. “We played beautifully when we kept the ball on the ground and not so good when we played kickball.
“They (Carson players) just can’t control their mouths sometimes. I keep telling them that they need to seal their lips. I keep telling them that.”
It obviously isn’t sinking in enough. Defender Carlos Alvarado picked up a red card last weekend, and is no longer on the team. Veteran defender Zach Smith had to be restrained a couple of different times when he voiced his displeasure over calls and some rough play by Reed, and CHS coaches were quick to sub for him to keep him from being ejected.
The loss of Alvarado could be critical as the Senators enter the home stretch of the season. This is a team that stresses defense first.
“I think it definitely hurts,” said defender Adam Shoaf, who has been a calming influence for the Senators’ back line. “He’s a great defender. We’ll miss him.”
Carson got off to a quick start, scoring in the second minute, scoring what appeared to be flukish goal. Hernandez got off a shot from the right side that appeared to fool the Reed keeper, who never moved to get a hand on Hernandez’s shot, which found the lower left corner of the net. The Reed goalie was either screened out, or thought the ball was going to be wide of the goal. It was Hernandez’s 11th goal of the season, and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.
“He was aiming for it,” Samii said.
Reed got off a couple of weak attempts over the next 14 minutes, and then Brian Galvan blasted one over the crossbar in the 19th minute, and Hernandez missed wide a minute later.
Two minutes later, the Senators cashed in on Reed’s inability to clear the ball.
Milton Rodriquez pounded a corner kick into the middle of the penalty box. Reed never contained the bouncing ball, and Cristian Cardenas appeared to direct the ball past the Reed keeper with his knee to make it 2-0. It was Cardenas’ first goal of the season.
Carson had a great opportunity to up its lead to 3-0 in the 33rd minute, but Oscar Ventura missed a wide-open shot when Reed’s keeper failed to corral a shot.
Neither team did much in the second half, and it got very chippy at times on the field.
Things reached the boiling point when Hernandez was called for a yellow card, and he muttered something as he was leaving the field, and thus picked up a second yellow which led to an automatic objection. Minutes later, Reed’s coach picked up a second yellow, and he was also ejected. Reed managed just two shots on goal the rest of the way. When the final whistle sounded, the ejected Reed coach re-entered the field and went over to accost the center official. Samii and a Carson administrator went over to restore order. The entire Reed team re-entered the playing field. Carson’s players stayed in the bench area.
JV: Carson rolled to an easy 6-0 win over Reed thanks to two goals from Eddie Porter and one each from Francisco Cabrera, Alex Hernandez, Sal Rodriguez and Adam Gutierrez.