It was a tale of two halves for the Carson High girls soccer team in its season opener on Tuesday at Elko.
The Senators regained their composure in the second half, outscoring Elko 5-0 on its way to an impressive 7-2 win in a place that's always tough to play.
"We had a little aggressive talk at halftime," said Carson coach Randy Roser, commenting on his displeasure with his team's first half play. Still, the Senators were tied 2-2 with Elko at halftime.
"It was a very slow start," Roser said. "They were up on us right away. They were working us hard. We just couldn't get anything right.
"We're still working on stuff. The second half we played well. The second half they played more like we expect them to play."
Danielle Benamati scored three goals and Cassie Bowman, Brandi Vega, Kayla Sanchez and Sammy Valerius all added a goal. Vega also assisted on two of Benamati's goals and Sophia Rafeal assisted on Vega's goal. Valerius' goal came on a penalty kick after Kasey Cano drew a foul.
Roser said Rafeal was the spark plug in the second half from her right midfielder's position. "She's actually in the second half the girls that made it happen for us," Roser said. Roser also praised the play of goalie Brittany DeRosa.