In the past, the Carson and Reed high school girls soccer teams have locked horns in some memorable battles that have gone down to the wire.
There was no doubt Saturday when the familiar rivals got together in Sparks. The Carson Senators scored four times in the first 23 minutes and never looked back on their way to a 4-1 victory in the nonconference match at Reed.
Kasey Cano scored three goals, Courtney Hayes scored another and four different players contributed assists as the Senators (2-0-1) executed their offense in textbook fashion, according to coach Randy Roser.
"The girls played exceptionally well," Roser said. "They came out and did everything we've worked on in the first 20 minutes ... all on the ground, playing very fast and getting the ball through."
The Senators showed their execution in the early minutes when Kathryn Rogers stole the ball from a Reed defender. Carson's left side defender took off on a run up the middle, passed off twice, got the ball back each time and then fed Cano for the goal.
"Kat had two great runs up the middle," Roser said. "They didn't know what to do with her. She just got the ball and took off."
Cano gave the Senators a 3-0 lead with her hat trick. Cassie Bowman, Jessica Weir, Sarah Stalling and Rogers contributed assists to Carson's spread-out attack.
"Kasey had the three goals today, but Danielle Benamati and Sarah Stalling are going to have games like that, too," Roser said of the three forwards. "All three have the work ethic and the skills to get it done. So that's going to be a problem for other team's defenses - who are you going to mark this game?"
Carson was also solid on the defensive end behind Katie Davis, sweeper Sami Valerius and goalkeeper Allie Otto.
"Sami was very solid," Roser said. "Reed has a lot of speed on top, but they couldn't get around her."
This was a rematch from the Northern 4A Regional Tournament semifinals last year, a game Carson won 2-1 on Stalling's goal in the second overtime. In 2002, Reed defeated Carson 1-0 in overtime in the first round of the regional tournament.
CARSON JV 2, REED 0
Rebecca Kane scored in the first half and Amanda Osborne added a second-half goal to help Carson defeat Reed in the JV match played at Shadow Mountain Sports Complex.
Michelle Fleming and Kristin Rush played well defensively to help goalkeeper Briattany DeRosa post the shutout.
The Carson girls host North Valleys in Sierra League actions Tuesday. The JV match is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the varsity at 7.
