MINDEN - Looking at the Douglas High School soccer field for any longer than five minutes Tuesday afternoon, it was tough to tell who, if anyone, was in control of the game.
A couple of nicely-converted scoring opportunities and some outstanding play in net by Douglas goalie Hillary Winans was enough for the Tigers to pull away with a 2-1 victory over Carson in a match-up of the two top teams in the Sierra League. Douglas improved to 6-1-1 overall and 5-1 in league and moved into first place in the league while Carson dropped to 4-1-1 in league play.
"It was a great battle," Douglas head coach Fred Schmidt said. "It went back and forth all afternoon. It's always fun to play Carson and it's really fun to beat them. We couldn't do that last year."
And no one else in the North had been able to do it this year until Tuesday.
Carson coach Randy Roser said the roles were reversed from last year when his team swept the Tigers.
"They played us like we played them last year," he said. "My girls just didn't come to play. Douglas just basically took it to us."
Courtney Lenhart put a nice pass in to Krysten Bartshe, who put Douglas up 1-0 in the 18th minute with a tricky crossing shot on the ground.
Carson's Morgan Beam was able to answer midway through the second half with a swift shot past Winan's off a pass from Sara Stalling after Kasey Cano broke down field alone on the right side before crossing the ball in the 63rd minute.
"They have a ton of speed," Schmidt said of Carson. "That is by far the fastest team we have played this year.
"A couple teams, like Reno, have a number of fast girls but this team was fast all over the field."
Both teams shared possession in a game that lacked any real flow. While Carson was able to keep the ball in the offensive end for the majority of the game, Douglas was able to keep the ball away from the Carson forwards for the majority of that time.
Douglas took the lead in the 68th minute after Allison Chapman lobbed a nice pass down field, a Senator defender ran into the goalkeeper and Christina Bradshaw moved into position to score on the open net.
Schmidt credited his defense, pointing out sophomores Alicia Sturgess and Samantha Perry, for managing to keep the quick Senator forwards at bay.
"Younger girls played tremendously in the back and the seniors did very well too," Schmidt said. "Rachel Tappen and Alison Pyne both stood out. Pyne played about 70 out of 80 minutes today."
Carson had a number of spectacular chances to tie the game up late, including a shot from Sarah Stalling that traveled just high of Winans' fingertips and bounced off the crossbar with three minutes left.
"Hillary (Winans) played an outstanding game today," Schmidt said. "She is only a sophomore, but she played like an experienced veteran today. She got to a lot of tough shots."
Schmidt utilized Skylar Young, Kristy Nalder and Lorelei Gettman late in the game to possess the ball and run the clock out.
"As a team, we played a bit too much long ball," Schmidt said. "When you have speed, it works but it can wear you down, especially against teams like this."
CARSON JVS 3, DOUGLAS 0
Tasha Olivera, Justine von Rumpf and Amanda Osborne all scored in the win for the Carson junior varsity girls soccer team (6-1). Brittany DeRosa made 10 saves in posting the shutout and Emily Watson also played well defensively for Carson.
Contact Joey Crandall at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or call (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Joey Crandall
The Record-Courier
jcrandall@recordcourier.com
782-5121, ext. 212
