LAKEPORT — 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11.
That”s how many seasons in a row the Clear Lake High School varsity girls” soccer team has reached the North Coast Section Class A playoffs and that streak, based on the success of the Cardinals” junior varsity squad this season, probably won”t be broken anytime soon.
Clear Lake returns to the Class A playoffs on Saturday night when the Cardinals travel to Middletown to play the Mustangs in a first-round game that gets under way at 7 p.m. at the Middletown High School football field. While the Cardinals are making their 11th straight trip to the postseason, the Mustangs, coached by Louise Owens, are making their Class A playoff debut.
“I read that Louise”s girls are excited,” Clear Lake co-coach Paul Larrea said. “My girls are off the wall, they”re thrilled. Each year it”s a new experience that we look forward to.”
The Cardinals, a senior-dominated squad in 2006, certainly have something to shoot for this year, according to Larrea, who along with co-coach Ken Wagner have experienced the highs and lows of playoff participation up close and personal the last few years. One of the highs was winning the Class A title in 2002, one of the lows was last season when the No. 1-seeded Cards were upset 2-1 in a shootout by No. 8 seed Rincon Valley Christian in the opening round.
Did that loss leave a bad taste in the mouths of the Cardinal players who are back this year? How could it not?
“It didn”t feel good being the No. 1 seed and going out in the first round last year,” Larrea said.
But there are no guarantees in the playoffs, something Larrea knows all too well.
“It”s a good (10-team) tournament,” Larrea said. “There aren”t a lot of gimmee games. It”s one of the better jobs the (seeding) committee has ever done.”
Under a new NCS playoff format, all teams in the field are seeded and the matchups are based on that. In past years, the NCS seeded only the top teams and based matchups on geographical location. This year it”s straight seeding.
Sonoma Academy (18-3) of Santa Rosa earned the No. 1 seed in this year”s field while St. Vincent (14-6-1), Rincon Valley Christian (15-2-2), Clear Lake (17-4-1), the North Central League I South runner-up behind St. Vincent, and Middletown (8-5-3), the NCL I North champion, round out the top five seeds.
Larrea said the Cardinals were fortunate to land a first-round game so close to home, in this case against the Mustangs.
“If you can”t play in the first round at home, getting a game only 35 miles away is pretty good,” he said.
With the top six seeds in this year”s field earning first-round byes, the Cardinals are among those teams who have an entire week to prepare for their playoff opener.
“The big thing about having a week off is that allows players who are dinged up to heal and we”re going to have a pretty healthy team,” Larrea said.
Clear Lake and Middletown met up early in the 2006 season and the Cardinals prevailed 3-1.
Both teams have improved since then. In fact, Clear Lake”s lineup has undergone some significant changes since that Sept. 14 game in Lakeport.
“We have four girls starting now who didn”t start against Middletown,” Larrea said. “So we”ll have a different look.”
One of the intriguing things about playing Middletown at Middletown, according to Larrea, is that the team”s football facility has only hosted a handful of soccer games in past years.
“I know a lot of football coaches who are going to go down there just to see orange (soccer) lines on the Middletown football field,” Larrea joked.
The Clear Lake-Middle-town winner advances to the semifinals Nov. 8. No. 1 Sonoma Academy will draw the winner of today”s game between No. 8 seed Ferndale (10-5-2) and No. 9 South Fork (7-6-5) in Saturday”s quarterfinals. The Sonoma Academy/Ferndale-South Fork winner will meet the Clear Lake-Middletown winner in that Nov. 8 semifinal.
