Carson senior Lindy Lehman battles for possesion with a Galena player Saturday afternoon at Carson High School.
Carson High’s boys soccer team showed its resiliency Saturday afternoon against Galena.
Rogelio Herrera scored a hat trick, and Carson scored three second-half goals to grab an easy 4-0 win against the Grizzlies at the Jim Frank Track & Field Complex.
Carson, coming off a tough 4-3 loss to Wooster, improved to 8-1. Galena dropped to 6-2-1. The Senators visit Manogue Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
“I think the last game against Wooster proved to them they were a contender,” Carson coach Michael Alvarez said. “They came out today mentally prepared. I wasn’t concerned how we would bounce back. After the game the other night, I could se it (the fire) in their eyes. I expected them to come out strong.”
Carson did, though it didn’t show on the scoreboard right away.
Herrera, who now has a team-leading nine goals this season, broke the scoreless tie with the first of his three goals.
The speedy midfielder-forward took a through ball from fullback Peter Garrett and beat the Galena keeper in the 15th minute,
“Peter put it out there, I cut to the middle and took it in on the goalie,” Herrera said.
Each team had a couple of scoring opportunities, but were either unable to get off a shot or misfired.
Herrera made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute on a through ball from Jose Sepulveda. In the 49th minute, Herrera made a good run, but didn’t get a shot off. Four minutes later, he completed his hat trick, taking a pass from Abel Sanchez and scoring easily to make it 3-0.
“It was a through ball, and I kicked it to myself and beat the keeper to the ball,” Herrera said.
Herrera had a chance for a fourth goal in the 56th minute but his shot went wide right.
Garrett completed the scoring when he headed in a ball from Sanchez.
Herrera started the game in the midfield, but was moved up top by the CHS coaches.
“We like him in the midfield because he’s very good at getting back on defense; he’s always running,” Alvarez said. “He’s a good finisher up top.”
The Carson defense, led by keeper Efren Ramirez, Garrett, Osvaldo Gomez, Christian Martinez and Salvador Rodriguez, was top notch. Galena got off just five shots, and the two best opportunities came in the first half.
• The JV boys team collected a 2-1 win on scores from Ricardo Gonzalez and Misael Viramontes,
Wakeling scores 10th goal
Isabella Wakeling scored in the 23rd minute and Mallory Otto added a score in the 70th minute to lead the Senators to a lackluster 2-0 win over Galena.
Carson improved to 9-0 in league, heading into Tuesday’s 3:30 p.m. match at Bishop Manogue.
“I don’t think it was our best performance,” Carson coach Greg Lehman said. “Galena covered space well. We still came out and did what we needed to do and came out with a win.”
The early part of the game resembled a ping-pong match with neither team possessing the ball well.
Melissa Glanzmann fired one over the crossbar in the 16th minute, and Wakeling off a feed by Brynn Lehman, broke the scoreless tie.
The score remained 1-0 until Otto, off a cross from Lauren Hudak, scored. It appeared the Galena goalie got her fingertips on Hudak’s cross, and Otto alertly poked it in for an insurance score.
Neither team threatened in the last 10 minutes.
Coach Lehman singled out a few players for their efforts.
“I thought Brynn (Lehman) and Nahim (Gutierrez) played well in the back,” said the CHS coach. “I thought Alondra Matas gave us some good minutes.”