The South Tahoe boys' soccer team jumped up early and didn't need much more Wednesday afternoon as the Vikings cruised to a 5-2 win at Douglas in Sierra League play.
Jamie Estrada scored three goals to lead the Vikings, and the Viking defense managed to keep Douglas at bay, allowing only a handful of good scoring chances and rarely allowing second shots.
Estrada opened things up with a shot that Douglas keeper Chris Aguilar partially blocked, but trickled through for the goal in the ninth minute.
Just two minutes later, Douglas' Michael Barnes hammered home a rebound shot that David Sturgess set up in the 11th minute to tie the score.
The tie was short-lived as the Vikings came back down just two more minutes later as Ian Chandleer scored on a rebound in the 13th minute to put South Tahoe up for good.
The Vikings went up 3-1 in the 31st minute when Erick Sandoval scored on yet another rebound, this time intiated by Milton Montoya.
Two minutes later, Rafael Aguire slipped a pass in behind Aguilar and Estrada scored his second goal of the match.
Aguilar actually made a number of stellar saves in the game and played a good match, but the Douglas defense had trouble clearing the ball and avoiding the rebound shots.
Both teams battled on a slick field, which caused a noticable difference in the pace and rhythm that each team normally runs.
For the most part, the Vikings controlled possession.
Douglas had a number of chances to narrow the gap and make a game of it in the second half, most notably a beautiful shot from Eddie Vega that bounced off the crossbar after he took a long pass from Kyle Mannschreck in the 47th minute. Sturgess found himself all alone in front of an empty net but couldn't get the ball placed before South Tahoe was able to clear in the 62nd minute.
Martin Rubio got in the clear in the right corner in the 70th minute and sent a beautiful cross in to Sturgess. Sturgess got a good glance with his head, but the shot sailed just wide of the net.
Estrada completed his hat trick in the 78th minute on a late cross pass. Douglas got a late goal on the ensuing kickoff when Rubio shifted the ball over to Sturgess at the top of the penalty box and Sturgess finished the play to wrap up the scoring.
