The Carson High boys soccer team celebrates after picking up its first win of the season at home Wednesday night.
Photo by Carter Eckl.
It took less than two minutes for Carson High boy’s soccer to christen the new turf with a goal Wednesday night in a 2-1 win over Spanish Springs
Emiliano Bravo likened the new field to playing on carpet after he opened the scoring with a second minute deposit in the bottom right corner.
“I saw my other striker fighting for it. It fell off his back. The defender was facing toward goal and I guess he tried to lay it off,” said Bravo. “It was put on a plate for me basically at the top of the 18 (yard box).”
It was the first home game of the 2021 fall season for the Senators, who didn’t have many problems throughout the clear night dictating pace.
The Cougars answered Bravo’s opener in the 15th minute on a counter chance where Gabriel Caballero snuck a shot inside the near post.
Three minutes later, the Senators were down in Cougar territory with a penalty kick, but a diving save by Spanish Springs’ keeper kept the contest knotted at 1-1.
In the 28th minute, the center ref stopped play for a Senator drop kick.
The official dropped the ball, which bounced about waist high for senior Luis Carrillo.
A senior midfielder, Carrillo volleyed the bouncing ball from about 30 yards out and sent it sailing over and outstretched keeper and into the top right netting.
“No one came up to me and I was just like top right bins,” said Carrillo. “It was a little volley. Once I saw it in the air, I knew it was going in.”
“Oh, he’s done it before,” said Bravo, confidently.
Finding their mojo
After a 4-0 loss to Sparks to start the year, both seniors admitted the Senators hung their heads a bit after giving up early goals.
With the amount of pressure Carson was able to muster Wednesday night against the Cougars, the leadership of the team is starting to see where they need to make strides.
“I think its offensive. Defense, we are pretty solid right now,” said Carrillo. “We could work a little bit more on conditioning, but it’s finishing for sure.”
Though the were held off the scoreboard in the second half, the Senators held possession for about 70 percent of the final 40 minutes.
Carson piled on chance after chance, putting shots all around the net in the second half.
“When it was 1-1, we kept the pressure,” said Bravo. “This game we kept the pressure. This game was different.”
Technically, it will go down as the first official, completed event on the new turf after the first Carson football game only managed a little more than a quarter of play before air quality canceled the game.
“Here’s it (the turf) feels like nothing. I feel great,” said Bravo.
UP NEXT: Carson (1-1) will be back at home Saturday when the Senators will host Damonte Ranch (0-2). The Mustangs have losses of 5-0 to Hug and 2-1 to Reed in their first two games.
