CHS soccer season opens with shut out win over Bulldogs

Defensively, the Carthage Tigers couldn’t be beat Thursday. Not by non-conference Carl Junction, at least.

In fact, the Bulldogs weren’t able to get anything past the Tigers’ defense during Carthage High School’s men’s soccer season opener at Carl Junction High School.

“Once we got it going, we played well,” said head coach Chris Rogers.

The Tigers were able to get just enough offensively — solo goals from Christian Solis and Cole Beckham — to come away with a 2-0 shutout triumph.

From the onset, it appeared the Tigers weren’t going to have any trouble scoring.

Solis’ goal — off a corner kick — put the Tigers up 1-0, 58 seconds into the opening half.

The Tigers, however, were locked in a defensive battle for the remainder of the first half.

“At first, we watched them move the ball,” explained Rogers, “and then tightened up (defensively) in the second half.”

Carthage certainly did.

The Tigers allowed Carl Junction only three shots on goal, not only in the first half, but throughout the entire game.

“We played really well in the second half,” Rogers noted.

Beckham added an insurance goal in the 61st minute on a penalty kick.

“We had trouble finishing in the second half,” Rogers admitted, “but it’s still a good way to start the year.”

The Tigers, 1-0 overall, open conference play against an old rival, Neosho, at 5 p.m. Tuesday.