| Carbon’s Fernando Mendoza sets up for a shot against Bear River last week in Tremonton. |
Looking more like the snow bowl than the Carbon High soccer field, the Carbon High soccer squad lined up on the grass for their first match of the season on Wednesday afternoon. The team did not open with an romp over a smaller, weaker school; instead they took on Bear River who is ranked 4th in all of 3A right now.
But it was the Dinos who ended up looking like a school who should be in the top five. They pulled out a defensive struggle and came out on top 1-0. Carbon drew first and only blood with a goal from Justin Jones that was assisted by Travis Hobbs.
Goalie Jake Malone held off 21 shots on goal to shut out the Bears. Each team had their chances and neither team gave much ground as the control of the tempo went back and forth throughout the entire match.
Coach Patrick Clifford was very happy with the way his team played.
“Even if we would have ended up losing, I was proud of the play I saw from the team today,” he said. “We want to play quality teams because this is where we will learn the most. We certainly found out we have stuff to learn.”
The Dinos didn’t fare as well against Grand on Friday, however. They allowed two goals each half while only scoring one in the second half of play.
Justin Jones kicked in the goal for Carbon as the Dinos lost 4-1 to the Red Devils.
“Grand deserved the win” Clifford said. “We played for the first 15 minutes like we were asleep. They knocked in a couple of goals before we decided to wake up and play our game. Then it was too late.”
At the Grand game the team was short several starters due to other school obligations and injuries.
On Saturday the team took on Tooele. That was a much better played game even though the Dinos came away with their second loss of the season by the score of 2-1. Again playing with a short bench, the team just didn’t have the depth to pull it out.
Carbon has three tough games again this week. They travel to Uintah on Wednesday, then take on Union in Price on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and Canyonview at 1 p.m. on Saturday.