Arran Rumbaugh walked around the Carson High bench, tears streaming down her face. They weren't tears of despair, but tears of happiness.
Rumbaugh chipped a shot over Douglas goalie Courtney McKimmey in the 77th minute to break a scoreless tie and give the Senators a 1-0 victory in a Northern 4A soccer match.
The win gives Carson a 3-0-1 record, while Douglas drops to 3-1.
After getting a pass from Josilyn Daggs, Rumbaugh found herself 1-on-1 against McKimmey. She took an extra dribble, and when McKimmey came out a few steps, she chipped the ball past her.
Douglas had one scoring opportunity after the goal, but the shot went over the goal.
"All season long, I've just shot the ball hard," Rumbaugh said. "Coach (Cassie) Carter has been working with me on that (not always shooting hard and placing the ball). When I looked up I wanted to see where the goalie was. I wanted to see what she was going to do first."
"She did a nice job (on that one)," Carson coach Randy Roser said. "In the past she would have ripped it. Cassie has been working hard on it with her."
When the whistle finally sounded, Carson players acted like they had just won the state title. Of course beating Douglas in any sport is huge.
"It was an aggressive game," Roser said. "Both teams played really well. It's what you expect when Carson plays Douglas. This was really a team effort. Our back line of Michelle Sandage, Natalie Stevens and Ali Cowan played well. Our defense was very good."
Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh was disappointed with her team's first league loss.
"We had to make adjustments (in the second half), as far as anticipating the spacing on the field," Douglas coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said. "I was happy with the second half.
"We have some inexperienced players and I'm sure there were some jitters. Even our veteran players were a little jittery anticipating the fight, and that's OK."
Carson had two good scoring opportunities in the first half. Daggs booted one off the right post and Rumbaugh missed to the left.
In the second half, Carson played a very passive defense, worrying more getting a scoreless tie instead of being aggressive and taking some chances on offense. Roser said he was concerned about Douglas forwards Katie Dry and Alexis Weaver.
Still, Carson seemed to have trouble moving the ball out of its own zone. Prior to the game-winning score, Carson had just two good runs the entire second half.
In the 70th minute Shannon Prinz put one over the crossbar from about 30 yards, and then approximately three minutes later, Carson goalie Emmy Heller made a diving stop of a shot by Weaver to keep the game scoreless.
Weaver's shot was the most serious threat that Douglas engineered in the second half. The Tigers had the ball in the penalty box area several times, but either couldn't get a shot off or had a shot blocked by a Carson defender.
"That (passive defense) made it tough," Fitzhugh said. "It's tough to get off quick shots."
