Isabella Wakeling (5) celebrates with Mallory Otto after Carson took an early 1-0 leady against Douglas in regional tournament play Saturday at North Valleys High School. Douglas went on to win the game 3-1.
RENO — Carson High fired the first salvo, but Douglas won the war.
The Tigers spotted Carson a goal in the first five minutes, but roared back with three unanswered scores to post a 3-1 win in the NIAA Division I regional semifinal Saturday afternoon at North Valleys High School.
The win qualified the Tigers for Monday’s championship game at 4 p.m. at Carson High against Bishop Manogue which beat Spanish Springs, 1-1, (7-6 in the shootout). More importantly, the win qualified the Tigers for their second straight state appearance under coach Werner Christen.
“This was a good team win,” Christen said, “It’s a team thing. We didn’t have anybody special stand out. We had a lot of good performances. I thought the first 10-15 minutes (Carson played well), but after that we played very well.
“It is every team’s goal to make state, and certainly we want to win on Monday, but there is a lot less pressure knowing we’re going to have a few more practices and that we get to play next week.”
Christen said his team did a nice job coming back after Carson’s early onslaught.
Mallory Otto, off an assist by Bella Wakeling, gave Carson the early 1-0 lead.
A quick score can sometimes devastate a team, but not the Tigers.
“I thought Brit (Werner, assistant coach) did a good job of keeping everybody calm,” coach Christen said. “That (quick goal) is something that hasn’t happened to us all year.”
That quick score seemed to motivate the Tigers, who split the two regular-season contests with Carson, the Sierra League regular-season champs.
Alex Moss tied the game four minutes later, and then the Tigers took the lead for good in the 37th minute when Alissa Holley ripped a shot from about 25 yards out that grazed the body of a Carson defender, and changed direction enough, that Carson goalie Samantha Bishop had no chance to make a save.
The Senators never really recovered.
Caitlyn Bidart scored an insurance goal for the Tigers in the 43rd minute, and then it was up to Douglas’ defense to protect the lead. Douglas passesd the test with flying colors.
Carson had a chance to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the 51st minute when freshman keeper Jordan Smith came out to a corral a loose ball. The Senators were unable to convert.
From that point, it was all Douglas. Carson had a couple of direct free kicks that were easily saved by Smith.
Christen said the Tigers adjusted their midfield defense from the last game.
“We gave them too much space in the midfield,” Christen said. “We tightened that up tonight.”
It was a disappointing end for the Senators, who were shooting for their second state appearance under coach Greg Lehman.
“We started off well,” Lehman said. “We had a game plan, and we stayed with it. I thought we moved the ball around well at the start of the match, and everybody got into the game. We got too greedy to move the ball forward.”
Translation? The team aspect wasn’t followed, and individuals were trying to do much.
