Senior striker Ryan Galvan goes after a ball Saturdary against a North Valleys defender at Carson High.
A scoring machine.
There’s no other way to describe Carson High senior forward Ryan Galvan, who has scored 19 goals and added eight assists en route to leading the Senators to a 10-4-2 regular-season record.
Galvan, who scored in 13 of Carson’s 16 games this season, hopes to continue his scoring spree when he leads the Senators into a first-round playoff game Monday at 6 p.m. at Spanish Springs.
When it comes time for Sierra League coaches to consider an MVP candidate, Galvan, despite being on a third-place team, should be strongly considered.
It’s hard to imagine Carson without Galvan’s scoring this year. Making the playoffs would be unlikely, and that’s the way an MVP should be judged as how good he made his team and what the team would have done without him.
“He has had a great season,” Carson head coach Mike Alvarez said. “He has been a guy we can depend on, and he makes plays and creates plays.”
In two seasons at Carson, Galvan has 29 goals. He is, without question, one of the most prolific scorers in northern Nevada.
“I really don’t think about the goals that much,” Galvan said. “I like to score (goals), but I like to win more. I focus mainly on us winning and making the team better. I don’t like to lose. I think I’ve improved a lot since the season started.”
And, when he’s quick to point out he has eight assists this year, his unselfishness comes out front and center.
“It’s better to give the ball up and create a lot of scoring opportunities,” Galvan said. “A lot of that came from my dad (Ismael).
“I started playing with my dad, when I was 5 or 6. I learned a lot when we moved to Mexico for a few years. The style is a lot faster there. You have to make decisions a lot quicker. It taught me to be a lot more aggressive.”
The time out of the United States certainly helped his skill set. There is little he can’t do with a soccer ball or at the offensive end of the field. He has the home crowd ooohing and ahhing at every home game with some of his ballhandling magic and deft passes. That is what helped opened the eyes of Frank Martinez, CHS assistant coach.
“He’s awesome,” Martinez said. “He’s a very smart player. There has been only a few games where he hasn’t scored. Guys who score a lot don’t always look to pass, but Ryan is always willing to give the ball up to an open teammate.”
Many times he has to because teams have been more aggressive defensively in recent games.
“Once people see me and what I can do, they will mark me with two players,” Galvan said. “Against Douglas (one of his non-scoring games), it wasn’t that I was unable to do anything. I got off some good shots and got the ball to open people.”
Galvan said he started playing when he was 5 or 6.
And, he has a nose for the net. He’s at his best in 1-on-1 situations. There have been times where he’s used his body and strength to create enough of an opening to get a shot off.
“He uses his size to his advantage,” Martinez said. “He is also quicker than you think.”
By the time Galvan moved back from Mexico in his sophomore year, soccer season had already started, and Carson was unable to get paperwork filed in time. Carson made the state playoffs that year, and Galvan would like nothing better than to lead this group of Senators back to Las Vegas for this year’s state event.
The road starts in Sparks on Monday. “We beat them here, but it’s going to be a hard game,” Galvan said. “Hopefully we can beat them and get to the semifinals. First we have to focus on Spanish Springs.”
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Carson High will again play without one of its players. Reserve goalie Jose Moreno, who was involved in a one-car accident on Highway 580 at Bellevue and Bowers Mansion Road on Oct. 24 at 1:30 a.m., was taken off life support and died only hours after Carson and Douglas battled to a 3-all tie in the regular-season finale.
Players were told on Thursday morning, according to school officials.
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The Carson girls also open the playoffs at Spanish Springs.
The teams kick it off at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams battled to a scoreless tie back on Sept. 13.
Carson enters the game with a 9-5-2 record, while the Cougars were 11-4-1.
Most of Carson’s offense has come from Mayra Olivares (9 goals) and Chantal Torres (6 goals). The Senators, despite some talented players, have had trouble finishing as evidenced by the fact they didn’t score a goal five different times this year and scored just a single goal in three other games.