WILLITS — The Upper Lake Cougars had 17 shots on goal while their coach, Mike Sheets, probably knocked over at least that many gopher mounds prior to his team”s 2-1 North Central League I interlock girls” soccer win Tuesday in Willits.
“I don”t know how many mounds of gopher dirt I kicked over,” Sheets said. “That field is lousy.”
Freshman forward Shayla Wyman”s goal, assisted by Yessica Ayala, snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the second half and the Upper Lake defense made the 2-1 lead stand up the rest of the way.
“My defense did a really, really good job to keep them out,” Sheets said.
Standouts for the Cougars included Amber Sheets, Tanya Carter, Brianna Carter, Alexis Buchholz and Amanda McQueen, according to Sheets.
The two teams played a scoreless first half. Ayala”s goal early in the second half gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
In other girls” soccer action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 7, Lower Lake 0
At Kelseyville, reduced to 14 players because of the flu, the Kelseyville Knights still had more than enough offense to beat Lower Lake in NCL I North action.
Kelseyville improved to 3-3 in the North standings and 3-9 overall.
Shannon Fontana and Monique Santana scored two goals apiece for the Knights and Sam Ledesma, Maria Aguirre and Reme Rico had one goal each. Ledesma also had an assist.
“Sickness is getting everybody,” Kelseyville coach Mark Andre said. “We had two starters out (with the flu).”
Both teams suited up 14 players.
Kelseyville led 3-0 after the first half.
Boys” soccer
Kelseyville 4, Lower Lake 3
At Kelseyville, Oscar Martinez”s penalty kick in stoppage time, his second goal of the game, lifted the Kelseyville Knights to a seesaw win over the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I North play.
Kelseyville (3-1-2, 7-3-3) trailed 2-1 after the first half but led 3-2 late in the game before Lower Lake pulled even at 3 near the end of regulation. Martinez broke the tie in stoppage time although the game had five more minutes to go.
“We didn”t play that well,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said. “But it”s a win and I”ll take it.”
Salvador Mendez and Jorge Mendez also scored for the Knights, who were coming off back-to-back ties against Willits and Fort Bragg.
Kelseyville was minus three players because of the flu, including sweeper Osvaldo Rojas.
“We really missed him,” Ledesma said.
Clear Lake 3, St. Vincent 3 (tie)
At Petaluma, Jose Nunez scored with two minutes remaining to give Clear Lake a tie against St. Vincent in NCL I South action.
The two teams also tied 4-4 on Oct. 1 in Lakeport, only in that game it was St. Vincent scoring late to come away with a draw.
“They were all happy,” Clear Lake coach Chris Cortez said of players” reaction to Nunez”s game-tying goal.
The Cardinals played their first game on St. Vincent”s artificial turf field and seemed to enjoy the experience.
“That was quite a change from the field they used to have,” Cortez said. “It was kind of weird because the ball moves so fast, but the guys rose up to the occasion.”
Juan Alvarado scored each of the Cardinals” first two goals. Nunez assisted on the first and keeper Raymundo Gregorio on the second.
“It was a good kick,” Cortez said of Gregorio”s long kick.
Ivan Sanchez assisted on Nunez”s goal.
Clear Lake is 1-3-2 in league and 2-6-2 overall.
