LAKEPORT — Clear Lake jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then fell behind 4-3 before settling for a 4-4 tie with the Cloverdale Eagles in the North Central League I South opener for both of these varsity girls” soccer teams on Tuesday in Lakeport.
“We played probably the best 20 minutes we”ve played,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said of the start of the game.
Clear Lake (0-0-1, 5-6-2) held a 3-0 lead only to watch Cloverdale chip away the remainder of the first half. The Eagles closed to 3-2 by halftime. They tied the game and then pulled ahead 4-3 in the second half.
“We had some breakdowns around the box,” Larrea said.
Logan Brodnansky scored on a penalty kick with 12 minutes remaining to get the Cardinals back even.
Briana Dutcher scored twice for the Cardinals and Telia Paskaly also scored.
“Briana Dutcher played lights out,” Larrea said. “She had two goals and had some other nice opportunities. That was probably her best game of the year.”
Larrea also had high praise for Brodnansky, who had an assist to go along with her goal.
“Logan was super,” Larrea said. “She was all over the place.”
Briana Martinez and Megan MacDonald also turned in solid efforts, according to Larrea. MacDonald briefly filled in at keeper for Mari Jordan, who left the game with an injury before returning.
“She had a nice save,” Larrea said of MacDonald.
While the Cardinals” play was uneven during the match, Larrea said part of the credit for that goes to the Eagles.
“They”re not a bad soccer team,” he said.
Clear Lake will become the first visiting team in any sport to play on St. Vincent”s new artificial turf field on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Petaluma.
