MIDDLETOWN — The Clear Lake Cardinals are headed for Santa Rosa following their 4-2 victory over Middletown on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Class A girls” soccer playoffs at Middletown.
The Cardinals (18-4-1), the North Central League I South runners-up this season, travel to Santa Rosa on Wednesday night play NCL II champion Sonoma Academy (19-3), the No. 1 Class A seed. The game begins at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center (formerly Luther Burbank Center for the Arts), which is located just off Highway 101 north of Santa Rosa.
“Last year at this time we were putting away our uniforms,” said Clear Lake co-coach Paul Larrea, who was referring to the Cardinals” first-round loss last season to Rincon Valley Christian. “We lost 2-1 to Sonoma Academy earlier this year and now we get to play them Wednesday.”
This season marks the 11th time Clear Lake has qualified for the sectional playoffs, where they have advanced to the final round six of their last 10 seasons.
Clear Lake senior Karina Martinez, the Cards” top striker, proved to be the star of the match as her hat trick propelled Clear Lake against a tough Middletown defense.
Martinez proved that height she”s the second shortest player on the squad at 5-foot-3 doesn”t necessarily equate to might as she powered shot after shot against the Middletown keeper, Kelsey Welton.
“We hoped to put 20-25 shots on the frame and come up with three or four goals,” Larrea said. “Karina played a big part of that.”
Martinez picked up her third goal of the evening in the 67th minute as the Cardinals charged downfield to the front of the Middletown net, where Martinez paused and then let fly with a rocket shot that caught Welton on the wrong foot and she was unable to get a hand to the ball.
Martinez” second goal came in the 60th minute of play and snapped a 2-all tie. A push in the box gave Clear Lake a penalty kick and Martinez fired a low shot into the corner of the frame to put the Cardinals ahead to stay.
Martinez found the far post for her first score in the 38th minute when she launched a shot from 30 yards out that caught Welton looking.
“We looked pretty good coming off league (play),” Middletown coach Louise Owens said of her NCL I North-championship squad. “We tried different positions (from the last time we played them) but nine days without a match put us off our game.”
Right from the opening whistle of the match the Cardinals drove right down to the front of the Middletown goal and punished the Mustang defenders with shot after shot. The Mustangs fended off each and every one until the 10th minute, when they gave up a corner kick opportunity.
Martinez placed her corner shot perfectly to the high front of the frame as Welton simultaneously left her feet and punched the ball away, preventing a certain score. But the ball bounced out to Clear Lake”s Samantha Espinoza, who took advantage of Welton being out of position and kicked the ball into the net for a 1-0 Clear Lake lead.
Martinez” first goal made it 2-0 in the waning minutes of the first half. A hand ball in the box gave Middletown its first scoring opportunity as Kayla Welton”s penalty found the top of the frame, just out of the reach of the Cardinals” keeper, Candy Diener.
Welton tied the match 10 minutes into the second half on a direct kick. Welton sent up a chip shot that was misplayed by Diener as it took an errant bounce and traveled past her grasp and into the goal.
Welton fielded seven hard saves in the first half.
Middletown finishes the season 8-6-3.
