| Beau Morley uses his head during the game against Juan Diego. The Dinos lost the contest 4-1. |
Carbon’s soccer team got to match up with the best and the rest last week, but the final outcome was the same. They lost 4-1 to a strong Juan Diego team and then dropped another to North Sanpete by the score of 2-1.
With a cold wind blowing diagonally across the field, the Dinos tried to hold their own against the much stronger Juan Diego squad on Wednesday. The Carbon boys were fairly successful in the first half. Sophomore goalie Austin Dalton had his work cut out for him as he worked against the strong and swirly wind to hold Juan Diego to only one goal.
When the teams traded sides Juan Diego scored again. Jose Munoz was able to use the wind to his advantage to put one in for the Dinos on a penalty kick and the Dinos pulled within a goal. The game stayed that way for most of the second half.
The Dinos squandered some easy shots on goal that could have tied up the game. Juan Diego got hot and sent two easy shots into the net to down the Dinos 4-1 in the final three minutes of play. “We let down our play for about 10 minutes and they took advantage of it and scored two quick goal.” Coach Jeppson summed up the game. “right after we missed two easy shots they went down and scored.”
With better weather on Friday, Carbon played host to North Sanpete for their final home game of the season. The Hawks scored two goals in the first half of play and Carbon found itself in a hole by the half. Leo Yu was able to put the Dinos on the board with a corner kick in the second half.
Late in the half, Carbon had a chance to tie it on a penalty kick, but the defense held for North Sanpete and they went on to take the win 2-1.
The two teams are tied for the last berth in the playoffs. With one final region game apiece it is both teams last shot at breaking the tie.
Jeppson is unsure of how the tie would be decided so he is not wanting to leave it to chance. He feels that his team has the tools to steal a win from Delta this week, but it really comes down to getting the squad to believe in themselves. “They have played as good against Delta and Juan Diego as those teams have played each other so I know they could beat them if they would just play 90 minutes of ball instead of 70.”
Carbon will finish off their region play on Wednesday and then travel to Moab for a non region match-up with Grand. “We need to finish the season off strong.” Jeppson added. “Even if we don’t make theplay offs we have some good juniors returning for next season and it should help give them the attitude, intensity and confidence to win next season.”