‘Mo offense for Carson

Guillermo Hernandez scores four goals in Carson’s rout of Tigers

MINDEN — Guillermo Hernandez and Ryan Galvan were a formidable combination Saturday for the Carson High boys soccer team in its 8-1 Sierra League victory against Douglas.

Hernandez scored four goals while Galvan added two goals and one assist to lead the way for Carson (6-3-1) in its win against rival Douglas (2-7-1 league, 6-9-1 overall). Hernandez scored three of his goals in the first half, the first two of which came during a brief stretch when the Senators scored three goals in four minutes to take a 3-0 lead.

“We played very well,” Carson coach Mike Alvarez said. “We had a little string of losses, and it was kind of a reality check. This team has a lot of talent and a lot of good players, but as soon as you stop communicating, you lose that glue. They’re back to communicating, talking to each other, and it showed today.”

Hernandez put Carson on the scoreboard when he converted a penalty kick in the 15th minute. Hernandez gathered in a through ball from Alejandro Gonzalez before he was taken down in the penalty box, then the junior forward struck a grounder to the left corner to give Carson a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Galvan fed a through ball to Hernandez, who beat one defender and struck a grounder into the left corner of the net.

Gonzalez made it 3-0 in the 18th minute when he recovered a deflected shot and blasted in a 25-yarder from the right side.

Douglas scored in the 38th minute. Josh Gurule’s header was stopped by Carson goalkeeper Efren Ramirez, freshman Javier Vega’s follow shot was also blocked, and then Flavio Lopez was on the spot to tap the ball across the goal line to give the Tigers their goal.

The Senators answered a minute later when Jaime Saldana passed the ball to Hernandez on the right side baseline for a shot that struck the far post and caromed into the net.

“This was his best game, without a doubt,” Alvarez said of Hernandez. “He’s a very talented player, but his team play has come up the last few games, and it shows.”

Galvan took center stage during a two-minute stretch early in the second half. The senior received a pass from Rogelio Hernandez, turned and blasted in a short shot in the 49th minute. Next, Galvan took a Fernando Torres pass out of the air and headed the ball into the net to extend Carson’s lead to 6-1.

“Ryan has a great touch and he has very deceptive speed for his size,” Alvarez said of the senior co-captain.

Oscar Ventura scored on a header in the 64th minute off an Octavio Virrueta corner kick. Hernandez scored his fourth goal, this time assisted by Ventura.

“We can’t afford mental mistakes,” Douglas coach Milko Vasquez said. “We don’t have the speed, so when we make mistakes, we look very vulnerable. The effort is there, we just have a lot of inexperienced kids and it really shows.”

Nor do the Tigers have much time to recover from this loss, Vasquez added. After all, they must now face league-leading Wooster on Wednesday and then Galena on Friday.

“Monday, we have to get back to work,” Vasquez said. “But that’s the beauty of soccer. You may get stung by a loss like this, especially against a rival. But you know what? Through hard games, we will get better. The only way to bring yourself up to the same level as teams like Wooster and Galena is by playing against them … and you’ve got to learn how to play smart.”