Carson girls soccer advances in playoffs

Molly Otto picked an opportune time to end her 11-game scoring drought.

Otto, who hadn’t scored since Sept. 17 against North Valleys, took a pass from Bella Wakeling and scored in the sixth minute of overtime to give Carson a 2-1 win over Reed in the quarterfinals of the NIAA 4A girls soccer tournament Tuesday night at the Jim Frank Track & Field Complex.

Carson improved to 16-0-1 overall, and faces McQueen, a 2-1 overtime winner over Douglas, Thursday at 4 p.m. at North Valleys.

In other quarterfinal games, Galena edged Spanish Springs 1-0 and Reno tipped Wooster, 2-1. Galena plays Reno at 6 p.m. in the other semifinal.

McQueen put the only blemish on Carson’s record, tying the Senators, 1-1, in Carson back on Sept. 20.

“I definitely prefer to play McQueen,” Otto said. “Douglas gets in our heads too much.”

“McQueen is a good team,” Carson coach Greg Lehman said. “They have been getting better as the season as gone on. I expect a good match.”

No doubt Carson will have to do a better job of finishing if it wants to get to the finals on Saturday at Damonte Ranch.

The game-winner was just Otto’s second score of the season.

It capped a happy, yet frustrating night for the Senators, who dominated everywhere except on the scoreboard in regulation. For the game, Carson outshot Reed, 20-6.

If you follow Carson soccer, this was a typical game. All too often, Carson has dominated the action but failed to finish good scoring opportunities, and that was the case against the Raiders, who lost 9-1 to Carson earlier this year.

“It (finishing plays) has been our achilles heel at different points of the season,” Lehman said. “We had lots of opportunities, and we just didn’t finish. There is a lot to be said for the fact that we were creating opportunities.

“They were playing a stopper (a player several yards behind her defnsive teammates) yet we still had a lot of good opportunities.”

Wakeling scored in the ninth minute, and it was frustration for the next 77 minutes until Otto sent the hometown folks happy and out of the cold.

Reed’s Sydnee McGrath scored 10 minutes after Wakeling, tying the match at 1.

Carson outshot Reed. 6-0, the rest of the half. The game was played on Reed’s side of the field.

In the 21st minute, Yanitzia Perez had a shot blocked, and two minutes later, Galilea Cid boomed one from long range that hit the crossbar and bounced away.

Perez had another good opportunity in the 31st minute, but dribbled the ball too much and never got a shot off.

“It was a stressful first half,” Otto said.

“The ball was on their side of the field the whole first half.”

Carson got off nine shots in the second half compared to five for Reed.

The Raiders had two in the 73rd minute but came up empty.

McQueen 2, Douglas 1, 2 OT

RENO — Douglas struck for an early lead, only to see McQueen rally back and eventually win 2-1 in double overtime.

McQueen tied the score at 1-all shortly before halftime, a score that stood a the end of regulation.

Douglas ends its season with a 10-8-1 record. McQueen (11-4-2) now advances to face Carson in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday at North Valleys High School.

Douglas opened the season with a 2-0 win at McQueen on Aug. 30.