Carson's Ryan Galvan and Douglas' Jacobi Smith.
MINDEN — Locking horns in a playoff-like atmosphere, the Carson and Douglas high school boys soccer teams scrapped to a 0-0 tie on Wednesday night in their regular season-ending game at Keith Roman Field.
“Yes, it was,” said Douglas coach Vince Brown, whose Tigers ended their season with a 2-10-4 record and out of the playoff picture. “I was very pleased with the way they played tonight. The frustrating thing for me as a coach is we proved how well we’re capable of playing; that we are capable of playing against good sides.”
Carson (10-3-3), despite the tie, will go into the playoffs as the second seed thanks to Damonte’s 1-1 tie with Galena (9-3-4). Carson will play the No. 3 seed from the High Desert League Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the opening round of the playoffs.
“We played good in the second half, but we didn’t play good enough,” CHS coach Mehdi Samii said.
Both teams had their opportunities to score, and both teams produced some big plays on defense in a struggle that continued right up to a nice run up the middle of the field by the Tigers’ Eman Montoya that was broken up by Carson’s back line moments before the final whistle.
Carson had a couple of chances in the 53rd minute when Douglas defender Jacobi Smith cleared a ball away from the net and then Ryan Galvan blasted a high ball that freshman goalkeeper Luke Heinrichs tipped over the top of the net for a save.
Galvan also had an open look at the net in the 72nd minute, only to see his line drive stopped by Heinrichs.
“Douglas played awesome,” Samii said. “They took it to us the first half, and we didn’t know how to respond. You can’t check out for one half and expect to win the game.”
Junior varsity: Carson won 6-0, as Eddie Porter scored twice to lead the Senators. Jaime Saldana, Jonathan Garcia, Fernando orres and Danny Manzo added one goal apiece.