Carson boys soccer falls to Hug 2-0

Saturday’s boys soccer tilt between Carson and Hug were two teams that have plenty of history playing against each other.

Hug, now 5-1 on the year, came out with a 2-0 win, but Carson head coach Francisco Martinez had plenty of positive takeaways from the loss. “Overall, I’m pleased with the boys and their effort,” Martinez said. “I thought it was an even match. They put theirs in and we had one there that didn’t go in.”

The Hawks opened up the scoring in the 22nd minute on a ball that found its way to the middle of the box and was deposited swiftly into the right-side netting. In the 57th minute, Hug freshman Julian Ramos lofted a shot over the Carson defense for the insurance goal.

However, the Senators weren’t without chances.

Right out of the halftime intermission Adrian Lopez Meraz pushed a ball around a Hug defender, followed it down the sideline and cut toward the box. The senior then fired a shot to the far post, but a diving effort from Hug’s keeper deflected the attempt out of bounds.

Omar Mora also had a scoring opportunity in the 50th minute when he booted a free kick toward the top corner only to have it touched away by Hawk goalie Isaac Guzman.

“He’s a solid player and if it would have been the shorter goalie that would have gone in,” Martinez said of Mora’s chance.

Hug switched keepers after the halftime break.

In the 61st minute Carson was granted another free kick from just outside the 18-yard box on the far side of the field. Hug deflected the ball out of bounds and on the ensuing corner kick, Carson headed the ball just over top of the cross bar.

Martinez’s biggest observation and learning point for the Senators was passing through the midfield.

Turnovers near midfield and into the attacking half gave the Hawks chances to counter attack.

“We have to connect the passing. We can do it we just need to work harder at that,” said Martinez. “The mid has to control that and if they don’t have good passes then we lose the ball and they attack.”

Martinez thinks that once the Senators are able to get completely healthy, they’ll be in competition for the top spot in the league.

UP NEXT: The Senators (2-4-1) will get three days to work on their game before Reno (4-4-1) comes to town Wednesday.