UPPER LAKE — Hold their own?
The Upper Lake Cougars did that and then some on Thursday before falling to defending North Central League I North co-champion Fort Bragg 2-1 in a non-league varsity girls” soccer game at Upper Lake High School.
“We gave them a run for their money,” Upper Lake coach Mike Sheets of the Timberwolves, who shut out the Cougars 6-0 last season.
“They worked their little fannies off,” Sheets said of the Cougars (2-2), who held a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a goal by Yessica Ayala, with an assist from Shayla Wyman.
“Our girls really moved it down there,” Sheets of the Cougars” many attacks. “We had several other attempts but we just couldn”t get the ball in the net.”
Standing in front of that net was Fort Bragg keeper Amanda Wright, who played for Upper Lake last season.
“It was nice to see her even if she isn”t playing for us,” Sheets said.
Shut out in the first half, Fort Bragg finally scored in the second half, getting a pair of shots past Upper Lake keeper Annie Martinez, who turned in a strong game with 18 saves.
“Defensively we were really on top of our game,” Sheets said.
The Cougars return to action Tuesday in Lower Lake.
In other girls” soccer action Thursday:
St. Vincent 2, Middletown 0
At Petaluma, the Middletown Mustangs unveiled a new defense, played well but still dropped their first game of the season to the NCL I South-powerhouse St. Vincent Mustangs.
“My defense did a phenomenal job,” Middletown coach Louise Owens said.
With an eye toward slowing down the quick St. Vincent club, Owens mixed up her defenses and got the desired effect.
“It worked wonderfully,” she said. “We absolutely hustled our butts off.”
St. Vincent scored in the 25th and 40th minutes of the first half for the only goals of the game.
Pretty much shut down in the first half by St. Vincent”s defense, Middletown (4-1) was able to generate a few more shots on goal in the second half.
Middletown keeper Cheyenne Snow stopped 12 shots. Other defensive standouts were midfielders Kiley Agapoff and Kelly Wilkinson.
“They did a phenomenal job in the center,” Owens said.
Owens said the game helped answer some questions about her team.
“I”m feeling very positive now,” she said. “This game was a real judge of what the girls could put up with and gave me a good idea of what I can expect from them.”
Clear Lake 4, Kelseyville 0
At Kelseyville, the Clear Lake Cardinals scored two goals in each half to beat the Kelseyville Knights in non-league action.
Clear Lake (3-5-1) also beat Kelseyville 4-1 on Sept. 8 in Lakeport.
“Defensively we played a good game again,” Kelseyville coach Mark Andre said.
The Knights” top two threats on offense, Monique Santana and Sam Ledesma, drew plenty of attention from the Clear Lake defense, according to Andre.
“They overplayed Monique and Sam,” Andre said.
Kelseyville is 0-4.
Clear Lake scoring was not reported.
Volleyball
Lower Lake def. Upper Lake
At Upper Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans opened their season with a quick 25-19, 25-19, 25-12 victory over the Upper Lake Cougars.
Lower Lake”s serving was the difference, according to Upper Lake coach Sandy Coatney.
“Both teams made some errors in that first game, but their servers picked it up the last two games. They didn”t have many errors.”
Behind eight aces from Amber Daniels in the third game, the Trojans built an early 10-point lead and went on to close out the match.
Coatney said he also was impressed with the Trojans” hitting.
“They”re real athletic, especially in the middle,” he said.
Tashee Denson dominated up front for Lower Lake, collecting 11 kills.
“It was a beautiful thing,” Lower Lake coach Danessa Udy said.
Katherine Edmonds had four kills, one block, three aces and seven digs to spark the Cougars, who struggled at times, according to Coatney.
“We were out of sync,” he said. “We weren”t working together.”
Brandy Claunch had nine assists for Upper Lake.
Vernoica Wilder had four kills for the Trojans and Daniels added three.
“It was a big step in the right direction,” Udy said of the victory. We played like a team. The cohesiveness was there.”
Udy also had high praise for the passing of Middletown transfer Sara Burns.
Clear Lake def. Roseland Prep
At Lakeport, Vanessa Tullos had eight kills, four digs and three aces and the Clear Lake Cardinals made quick work of Roseland Prep of Santa Rosa, winning 25-9, 25-13, 25-18.
Riley Gabehart added four kills and one block and setter Katie Reynolds had 23 assists and a team-best five aces for the Cardinals.
“We still have stuff to work out, but they played well,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said.
Clear Lake”s junior varsity squad lost in two games.
