A new half of the High Desert League season saw a new-look Reed boys soccer team Saturday. It came at the perfect time as the RHS crew sat in fourth place at the midway point of the season.

The Raiders scored three unanswered goals in the second half and came away with a 3-1 home win over McQueen to improve to 4-3 in league play.

“I feel good. We started off slow this season, but I think we’re getting back to the old Reed, the way we played last year,” Reed junior Marco Licciardi said, alluding to last year’s regional semifinal squad.

Licciardi tallied an insurance goal for the Blue and Gold, but Reed had to play catch-up in the second half despite battling to a 0-0 tie through the first 40 minutes.

Six minutes into the second half, the Raiders allowed the game’s first goal on a shot that caught everyone, even some fans, off-guard. That did not discourage the home team.

Less than five minutes later, forward Rica Martinez took one dribble and unleashed a shot into the nearside of the goal and past the McQueen goalkeeper, knotting the contest at 1-1. That dramatically swung the momentum to the RHS side.

In the 57th minute, Phil Moon snuck through the Lancers’ defense and tapped a slow roller past a diving keeper and into the back of the net for a 2-1 Reed lead.

The Raiders put the pressure back on less than four minutes later. The ball kept bouncing around in the box, but Reed couldn’t get a shot off until Licciardi collected it and shot it into the left side of the goal for the final 3-1 margin.

Despite playing without a couple of top players due to SAT testing, Reed’s coaching staff was pleased with the enthusiastic effort the rest of the team gave.

“This was the best game we’ve played all season,” Reed coach Rich Hollis said. “We were consistent. The guys did a great job just communicating with each other.”

Reed will host Elko at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Girls

Senior Kayla Gomer scored all three goals for Reed as the Raiders shut out the Lancers 3-0 in prep girls soccer action, capping a week in which Gomer had eight of the east Sparks school’s 10 goals in two games.

Gomer continued her goal-scoring connection with younger sister, Kelsey, who assisted on two of Kayla’s goals Saturday.

“It’s easy to give credit to the girls who finish and are in the scorebook and in the newspaper. The girls know it’s a team game,” Reed girls soccer coach Jason Saville said. “They know they won’t always get their name in the paper, but the one thing they care about being in the paper is us having a ‘W.’ We moved the ball well today and worked hard off the ball. We had a lot of heart and a lot of spunk.”

Nine minutes into the league affair, Kayla Gomer put Reed on the board on an assist by Kelsey.

Carrington Grimes was solid in goal, picking up the shutout, but the Reed offense did not want to settle for a 1-0 victory.

With quick, short passes, the Raiders picked their way through McQueen’s defense all day. Reed looked much more like a two-time Northern Nevada state champion than it did last weekend, and it paid off on the scoreboard.

With 12:15 to go in the first half, Chandra Stimpson passed the ball ahead to Kayla Gomer, who found a way to score on a tough angle, giving Reed a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission.

While the Raiders dominated possession for most of the second half, it looked like they would be stuck on two goals. That changed in the final 30 seconds when Kelsey Gomer pushed the ball ahead to Kayla on a break. With a McQueen defender on her hip, Kayla Gomer sprinted toward the goal and laced a shot into the far side of the goal for a 3-0 win.

Reed (5-2-2, 5-1-1 HDL) will head to Elko Tuesday for a battle to stay atop the HDL standings.