MINDEN -The Carson boys soccer team was up 2-1 on Douglas and just moments away from becoming the only team to beat the Tigers this season.
But then with 35 seconds left in the game, Douglas forward Gieorag Andrews scored the game-tying shot, a 25-yard blast that gave Douglas a 2-2 draw with Carson on Tuesday and kept the Tigers unbeaten.
"I don't care about that (being undefeated), Douglas coach Phillip Sheridan said. "I just want to keep playing good soccer."
In the six years Carson coach Bruce Bergantz has been with the Senators, including three years as the J.V. coach, Carson has never beaten Douglas.
"There's been so many ties between us, it's depressing," Bergantz said. "With Douglas, it seems like were plagued or something.
After Reno's 3-2 win over South Tahoe on Tuesday, the Huskies and Douglas are both 5-0-2 and tied for first place in the Sierra League standings. The Vikings are in third with a 5-1-1 record and Carson in fourth at 4-1-2.
"We're just going to beat each other up," Bergantz said about the four Sierra League front-runners. "I'll tell you right now all four coaches already know their in zone. We're just going to be jockeying for position."
On Tuesday, Carson held two short-lived leads before Douglas found a way to come back and tie the game. Early in the first half, Carson's Jesse Steele fed forward Aaron Satterwhite a pass, who then scored on a nice one-touch shot to put the Senators up 1-0.
But then just before half-time, Tiger mid-fielder Henry Leon made it 1-1 after his shot struck the bottom of the crossbar and then barely crossed the Senator goal line. But Bergantz wasn't so sure.
"From the angle where I was at and certainly from where the linesman was, I don't see how he can make that call," Bergantz said. "He was 25 yards away and he wasn't on the line to make that kind of a call."
Then with under 10 minutes left in the second half, Carson went up 2-1 after John Shorrock's pass found Satterwhite, whose shot off bounced off the Tigers goal post and into the net. It appeared to be the winning goal. But then Andrews equalizing goal with seconds remaining canceled any hopes for a Carson win.
"We have always had good matches with Douglas and the games are always close,"Bergantz said. "So I'm not making any excuses for us because we had them today and we let them off."
On Saturday, Douglas travels to Reno to play the Huskies, which will determine first place in the standings. But Sheridan said it's too early to be concerned about that.
"Yeah, it's nice to be playing for first place but it's still early in the season," Sheridan said. "All I know is that it's going to be a tough match."
On Saturday, Carson plays Hug in Reno. Both games are scheduled for 11 a.m.
