Carlmont Scots secure 2nd soccer win

“Any win at the varsity level is a good win. Especially considering winter break is weird,” said Carlmont head coach Ryan Freeman. “Of course [the scoring play] ended up being the most difficult play.”

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Carlmont (2-4-1) had control of most of the game and created the more dangerous chances, especially in the first half. But Hollister goalkeeper Amado Augustine Canela kept the game scoreless at halftime with a trio of tremendous reaction saves.

Carlmont’s Nico Golomb saw firsthand Canela’s reflexes as the Haybalers’ netminder denied Golomb twice in the opening 40 minutes.

But less than 10 minutes after halftime, it was Golomb making good on his third chance — and this time it was the junior striker with the fantastic finish.

Donny Dooley, a senior striker-midfielder, chased down a pass into the corner of the attacking end, turned the corner and sent a cross to the front of the goal where two Scots were crashing, with Golomb at the back post.

“I was expecting it to go straight to me. But my teammate got a head to it and it deflected,” Golomb said. “Then I was on the floor and it just hit my head and I lunged at it.”

The ball knuckled down after skimming off the head of his teammate and the trajectory of the ball kept bringing Golomb’s head lower and lower. He caught the ball off the short hop about a foot off the ground, with his right hand planted on the turf as he drove his head through the ball, getting just enough on it to push it past the goalkeeper, who could not make it all the way across the goal mouth.

For Golomb, the goal was sweet redemption after twice being robbed in the first half.

“I had a lot of better shots in the first half and [Canela] kept making spectacular saves,” Golomb said, who just returned home Thursday night from a holiday trip to Belize.

While the goal was only the fourth through seven games, it hasn’t been for a lack of trying, Freeman said.

“We’ve had a good chunk of games where we’re inches from scoring,” Freeman said. “As a whole, stuff hasn’t fallen our way.”

That run of luck continued in the first half as the Scots showed in the opening minutes that they were ready to wash away the end of 2024. Golomb got off a cross to the front of the goal in the first minute of the game, but couldn’t quite connect with Dooley.

Carlmont then earned a corner in the fourth minute before Canela came up with his first big stop of the game. Playing from the back, Hollister (3-4-1) turned the ball over 30 yards from its own goal, with Dooley stepping into an attempted pass and immediately firing a shot with Canela in the middle of the penalty box.

But Canela managed to come up with the save in the sixth minute.

The Haybalers took a while to get going offensively, getting a couple probing runs down the left flank with William Alvarez Funes, but Carlmont defensive line stayed intact.

In the 19th minute, Golomb had his first scoring chance as a pass from the midfield perfectly split the Hollister defense with Golomb going through and putting a shot low to Canela’s left.

But Canela, again, was up to the task, getting his body behind it and knocking it down.

By that time, Hollister’s offense was finally starting to get crosses into the penalty box and nearly took advantage of the Scots’ mistakes. The Scots turned the ball over deep in their own end twice with a little more than 10 minute left in the first half, forcing goalkeeper Colin Edwards into a scrambling save.

In the waning moments of the first half, the Haybalers had their best chances at a goal, both in stoppage time on back-to-back corner kicks. On the first, Edwards managed to paw the ball wide with a leaping stab. On the following corner, Edwards was forced into a diving save to his right to keep the game scoreless at halftime.

Edwards was called on again on the final play of the game, going up high to cut off a Hollister cross to the front of the goal.

“[Edwards] had a great game,” Freeman said, noting that Edwards handled the ball without giving up any rebounds or bobbles in the slick conditions because of the storm that rolled through the Peninsula Friday morning.

“It’s nice to know your goalkeeper is going to make a save,” Freeman said.

In the second half, Dooley was the Scots’ offensive engine as he was consistently distributing the ball or making penetrating runs, like the one that led to the only goal of the game.

“Since freshman year, you knew he’s going to be a difference maker,” Freeman said of Dooley, who he said is just starting to round into form after being slightly injured earlier in the season.

“In practice yesterday, we started putting in a system that runs through him,” Freeman said. “You can see when he’s on the ball, stuff happens. We’re going to go as he goes.”

After Carlmont’s goal, it was the defenses that took over as neither team seriously challenged the goal, although all five of the Scots’ second-half shots were on frame.

“We’ll take [the win],” Freeman said. “We’re moving in the right direction.”