RENO — Carson High’s boys soccer team made the most of scoring opportunities to grab a point on Wednesday afternoon.
Carson converted three of its seven shots on goal en route to a 3-3 tie against first-place Wooster in a Sierra League battle.
The tie puts Carson at 9-3-2 with games left against Reno (at home Monday at 7 p.m.) and a road game at Douglas at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“This was probably our best game,” said coach Mehdi Samii, whose team lost a 3-1 lead by allowing two goals in the final 24 minutes. “This was a great game for us to have before the playoffs.”
Samii said his team was unprepared on Wooster’s final two goals, both on free kicks.
“I didn’t even see one of the goals,” Samii said. “We were not ready. You have to play the whistle. It was our own fault.”
The game-tying goal from Jonothan Cuevas in the 66th minute came after a foul on Carson. It appeared that Wooster set the ball down and Cuevas kicked it before Carson had a chance to set up its block.
Wooster had several other good looks before the final whistle. The Colts outshot Carson, 16-7, including a 10-3 edge in the first 40 minutes.
The first half is one Carson would rather forget. Save for a header by Ryan Galvan off a corner by Guillermo Hernandez in the first minute which gave the Senators a quick 1-0 lead, Carson’s offense was nonexistent. Carson had trouble moving the ball against Wooster’s pressure defense in the middle.
“They have a good midfield and a good back line,” Cristian Hernandez said. “They always play hard. We started slow and then played well in the second half.”
Eight minutes after Galvan scored, Wooster evened the game at 1 when Cuevas shot went off Gustavo Villagrana and trickled into the net.
Cuevas had three more opportunities to score, but came up empty. Hernandez had two shot attempts, but neither was close.
Carson snapped the 1-all tie 10 minutes into the second half when Hernandez took a through ball from Miguel Ortiz and beat Wooster keeper Jose Fletes.
“Miguel split the two defenders perfectly with the pass,” said Hernandez, who has 17 goals this season, including three multi-goal games.
Two minutes later, Hernandez was fouled and converted a free kick from about 20 yards to give Carson a 3-1 lead.
The Senators, however, were unable to protect the lead. Ramon Ceja scored on a free kick in the 56th minute to make it 3-2, and Cuevas followed 10 minutes later with his second goal of the game.