Luis Carrillo stands over the ball as he is crowded by two Reed defenders Wednesday night. Carrillo scored his first two varsity goals in helping the Carson boys soccer team defeat the Raiders, 3-2.
Photo by Carter Eckl.
After starting the season with three straight road contests, the Carson High boy’s soccer team was thrilled to be competing on its home turf again Wednesday night.
The excitement happened fast as it took less than 90 seconds for Carson to score on its home field.
Right off the opening kickoff, the Senators found a couple of passing lanes before Luis Carrillo found some space with his left foot from around 32 yards out.
The junior midfielder put the first shot of the game over the Raiders keepers’ head and rippled the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“It was amazing. It was actually my first goal for varsity so it was really nice to score that goal,” said Carrillo.
It wasn’t a specific scoring play designed for Carrillo, but he wasn’t being picky about how he scored the first one.
“Not really,” said Carrillo. “It just went it.”
“He’s got the leg. In practice he hits them pretty often so I told him, if it’s there – take it,” said Carson High head coach Frank Martinez. “He’s a shooter. It was a beauty.”
Four minutes later, it was the Senator sideline celebrating again as Carson found another shooter.
Junior striker Emiliano Gutierrez found an opening on the far side of the field and danced his way around a defender before depositing a goal near post.
It’s an offense that has been able to put goals on the board in rapid fashion this season, but the Senators’ initial lead vanquished quickly.
Reed was able to get around a sliding Senator defender for a breakaway goal in the 8th minute before tying the contest in the 15th minute with a penalty kick.
“I thought the defense played well. Unfortunately, they called a PK there,” said Martinez. “Other than that, I thought they played really well. They (Reed) are a fast team.”
The tie didn’t last as the first-time varsity scorer got another chance.
It was Carrillo who broke the tie with a penalty kick of his own after being taken down in the box.
Carrillo didn’t lack confidence in his approach, directing a hard pass into the lower left corner of the net to move Carson back in front, 3-2.
Heading into halftime, nobody thought they had seen the last score of the game.
“I did not. I thought we could do better, but we got the win,” Carrillo said.
“I thought it was going to be at least 5-3,” laughed Martinez. “Unfortunately, we gave them two easy ones, but we got the W.”
UP NEXT: Carson (2-2) will travel to Spanish Springs (1-1-1) Saturday with the opening kickoff expected around 10:45 a.m.
