Carson defense comes up strong again

Two games and two exceptional efforts by Carson High's defense.

After shutting out Reno last week, the Carson High defense pitched a shutout for approximately 78 minutes before allowing a late goal on an indirect free kick in a 2-1 win over Hug Wednesday night in a Division I non-league boys soccer match.

Carson is 2-0 entering Friday night's home match against Galena. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday morning, but the official's association doesn't have enough bodies to work all the assignments. No time has been decided yet.

The crew of Cruz Kerver, Angel Gomez, Nathan King, Daniel Limon, Adam Shoaf and Carlos Alvarado played well. Hug only had three serious scoring opportunities, and keeper Joe Gonzalez turned them all away.

"I didn't know how good we were going to do," Kerver said. "I was hoping everybody would come in and play well."

One goal in two games is impressive, and if the Senators continue to play that way they could challenge for a championship.

"It was a really good game," Carson coach Mehdi Samii said. "I'm so proud of the boys."

Carson dominated the first half, outshooting Hug 7-2. Despite the dominance, it took Carson 33 minutes to score a goal.

Cristian Hernandez centered a ball to Jon Guevara, who back-tapped it past Hug keeper John Jimenez to make it 1-0.

"It was the only option I had at the time," Guevara said. "I thought Francisco (Barrios) was going to shoot it, but he dummied it and I got it."

"It was awesome," Samii said. "I can't say enough about Jon. He seems to always be in the right place at the right time."

After that initial goal, Carson seemed more concerned about paying defense than scoring goals.

"We've been working on that," Samii said. "They scored and they went back to their old habits. We went into defense lock."

Hug had three good scoring opportunities in an 11-minute span of the second half, but came up empty. That would come back to haunt the Hawks.

In the 72nd minute, Francisco Barrios outraced two Hug defenders and beat the keeper for a 2-0 lead.

That seemed to fire up the Senators. In the 76th minute, Guevara hit the post, and two minutes after that Hernandez put one over the crossbar.

With the match in extra time, Hug's Guillermo Ramirez converted the aforementioned a free kick for the final goal of the match.

"They had a lot of pressure on us in the second half," Samii said. "If we settle down and play to our feet ... Our passing looked fluid. It was enjoyable to watch."