It may be an election year, but South Tahoe High couldn't unseat the Senators from the top of the 4A girls soccer standings.
The Vikings couldn't overcome the loss of one of their top scorers as they fell to Carson 3-1 Thursday afternoon in South Lake Tahoe.
Reggie Braun missed the majority of the game for STHS when she was the recipient of a knee to her thigh.
"Reggie got a charley horse right in the thigh during the first half," Vikings coach Julia Peyser said. "She could barely move her leg for the rest of the afternoon."
Carson went into the intermission up 1-0, riding a goal from Allison Williamson.
Then the Senators put their game plan into action in the second half as they moved the ball around the field with great precision. While the Vikings relied on quick strikes and long breakaways up the sidelines.
"The things we wanted to do were one touches and working the ball around," Carson coach Mike Popp said. "We did that well and eventually wore down their defense."
Carson got a pair of goals in the second half, one each from Emily Maier and Nikki Schardin.
Maier's goal extended the Senator lead to 2-0, when she popped a shot over the top of the Vikings defense and into the upper-right corner of the goal.
The Vikings were able to close the gap to one goal in the 58th minute when Jen Galea fired a shot from 20 yards outside the box to get South Tahoe on the board.
"Jen's been fighting some tendinitis in her knee," Peyser said. "But if we weren't hurting, then we could hang with them more.
"We were suffering from a case of the butterflies in the beginning."
Schardin widened the lead to two goals in the 73rd minute when her shot eluded the reach of Lindsey Douglas and found the back of the net to extend the final score to 3-1.
Despite the loss, Peyser was somewhat pleased with the way her team has been playing throughout the season.
"Our main goal was to finish third and we're still on target for that," Peyser said. "Second was nice for awhile, but we're still where we want to be.
"Carson didn't show us anything that we couldn't beat if we were healthy. Now, we have to deal with Douglas, who is tough."
The Vikings will host the Tigers on Monday at 3 p.m.
