UPPER LAKE — Coming off a big win over Clear Lake, the Middletown Mustangs suffered the inevitable first-half letdown Thursday while battling the Upper Lake Cougars in a North Central League I interlock varsity girls” soccer game in Upper Lake.
But the Mustangs, clinging to a 1-0 lead after one half, found their stride in the second half and beat the Cougars 5-2 despite two goals by Upper Lake”s Taryn Re.
“In the first half we were a little sluggish,” Middletown coach Louise Owens said. “We had a couple of one-on-ones with their keeper and didn”t score.”
Owens said she “made her points” during halftime and the Mustangs (7-1) came out fired up in the second half. Two Brittany Cash goals sandwiched around an Amber Preusser goal, her second of the game, gave Middletown a much more comfortable 4-0 lead.
Upper Lake closed to 4-1 on a goal by Re, then Middletown”s Natalie Diaz answered to make it 5-1. Re scored again in the final minute.
“They were playing a lot better in the second half,” Owens said. “The subs played the last half of the second half and they got some good experience.”
Upper Lake is 2-4.
In other action Thursday:
Fort Bragg 1, Clear Lake 0
At Lakeport, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves scored in the 79th minute to hand the Clear Lake Cardinals their second straight shutout loss in NCL I interlock play.
“It was a tough ball for our keeper (Mori Jordan) to pick up, but it was also a nice shot,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said.
Clear Lake (6-4-1) received solid play from Jordan, Anisa Green and Megan McDonald, according to Larrea.
There were plenty of shots on goal as Clear Lake had 15 to Fort Bragg”s 14.
St. Vincent 9, Lower Lake 0
At St. Vincent, Lower Lake”s Katreena Galindo was one busy goalie as she stopped 27 shots in a loss to the St. Vincent Mustangs. St. Vincent led 4-0 after one half.
“I don”t like to see my goalkeeper work that hard,” Lower Lake coach Daniel Wieman said. “We”re going to have to do better on defense.”
Lower Lake barely challenged St. Vincent”s defense.
“We had one or two shots on goal,” Wieman said.
Lower Lake is 1-11.
Boys” soccer
Kelseyville 2, Cloverdale 2 (tie)
At Cloverdale, Juan Ninche scored two goals in the first half to give Kelseyville a 2-0 lead, but the Cloverdale Eagles rallied with two second-half goals to earn a tie in NCL I interlock varsity boys” soccer action.
“We couldn”t get it going in the second half,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said. “We had very few shots.”
Eduardo Ledesma Jr. assisted on one of Ninche”s goals. The other came on a penalty kick.
Kelseyville is 4-1-1.
Middletown 8, Upper Lake 0
At Upper Lake, Jason Candelario and Will Phelps scored two goals apiece and center/midfielder Myles Moffat picked up four assists as the Middletown Mustangs blanked the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL I interlock play.
“He just controlled the game, made beautiful passes as we transitioned from defense to offense,” Middletown coach Lee Hoage said of Moffat. “He controlled the whole offense.”
Hoage also praised the play of Jason Hill on defense.
Middletown improved to 5-5 with the victory.
Volleyball
Middletown def. Cloverdale
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs are rolling along and Thursday night they rolled past the Cloverdale Eagles 25-13, 13-25, 25-18, 25-11 in NCL I interlock play.
The Mustangs tried a new lineup in game two and when that didn”t work, they went back to the old lineup and didn”t skip a beat against the Eagles.
“We didn”t make many mistakes except in the second game,” Middletown coach Jennifer Breiner said.
Kayla Wood led Middle-town with 13 kills, eight aces and two blocks, and Kelsey Guzman had 10 kills and three blocks.
Lower Lake def. Upper Lake
At Lower Lake, Renita Gilliam”s hitting and Jessica Banda”s serving made the difference for Lower Lake in a 25-15, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22 NCL I interlock win over the Upper Lake Cougars.
“Our serving just went south after game two,” Lower Lake coach Danessa Udy said. “But we were able to hang in there.”
Gilliam had 12 kills, four blocks and seven digs for the Trojans. Banda had five aces.
Another Lower Lake standout was setter Christine Powers with 28 assists and five aces.
“She did a great job getting the ball to whoever was hitting it,” Udy said.
Clear Lake def. Willits
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals rallied to win games four and five, beating the Willits Wolverines 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 15-7 in NCL I interlock action.
“We didn”t kick in until the fourth game, then we took off,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said.
Clear Lake rallied from a 24-20 deficit to take the second game.
Danielle Howard had the best night among the Clear Lake starters with 10 kills and five blocks.
“She denied them at the net,” Psalmonds said. “They have some big hitters.”
Jesse Sondag had 19 kills and four blocks for the Cardinals, Kaila Sterbank added 22 service points and nine digs, and Katie Reynolds had 25 points and 37 assists.
Kelseyville def. St. Helena
At Kelseyville, Kaitlyn Goff pounded St. Helena to the tune of 17 kills and Kelseyville won a marathon with the Saints, 25-9, 20-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-12.
Kendra Schwegerl had nine kills for the Knights, but it was the play of libero Sarah Johnson in the fifth game that saved Kelseyville, according to head coach Donelle McCallister.
“She picked up absolutely needed digs in that game,” McCallister said. “She had three digs that changed the momentum. We had to have them.”
