Mallory Otto leads a fastbreak past a Reno defender on Tuesday.
Mallory and Molly Otto are identical twins. They dress alike, talk alike and finish each other’s sentences.
And, they play a pretty good game of soccer, too.
Mallory scored twice off assists from, you guessed it, Molly, and the Carson Senators went on to knock off Reno, 3-1, in a Division I crossover girls season-opening soccer match Tuesday night at the Jim Frank Track & Field Complex.
The duo has played together for years, and they seemed to have a sixth sense of where the other is on the field. And much to Reno’s chagrin, it showed.
“There is a lot of truth to that,” Carson coach Greg Lehman said. “They definitely can read each other, and they hustle all the time. They have played together like a lot of the girls on this team.
“There were moments we had great timing tonight and looked good. Early on, the first 10 minutes, we had good movement and then we lost it a little bit. Then we put another group in and they did a great job.”
The Ottos were part of the second wave. They gave a listless offense some life with their play. Before they came in each team managed just one shot and neither came close to the goal.
Carson broke the scoreless tie with a goal in the 26th minute, as Mallory and Molly both recorded their first varsity points.
“We didn’t play that much (varsity) last season,” Molly Otto said.
“This year is different. We’re already getting to play,” Mallory Otto said.
Valerie Sue Meyer started the first scoring play by getting the ball to Molly Otto, who assisted on the goal.
“I felt like I was offsides,” Mallory Otto said.
Reno had a good scoring opportunity in the 35th minute when Meyer made a key clear after the ball got past keeper Samantha Bishop.
Three minutes later, Mallory cipped in a shot off a pass from her sister to make it 2-0.
Both Ottos had good looks in the first six minutes of the second half.
Reno finally broke through in the 56th minute when Taylor Oliphant poked one home, cutting the lead to 2-1. In the 32nd minute, Isabella Wakeling missed wide right, and a minute later, Reno missed a golden opprtunity to tie the game. Bishop came out and was unable to corral the ball. Olivia Cisneros had a wide-open look at a potential game-tying goal, but her shot sailed above the crossbar.
In the 76th minute, Julie Torres clinched the wiin with a shot from 15 yards out to make it 3-1.
“I thought our defense played well when we were finding feet,” Lehman said.
