LAKE COUNTY — North Central League I North girls” soccer champion Middletown is the No. 3 seed in the 12-team North Coast Section Division III playoffs, which open Wednesday with four first-round games.
The top four seeds, all league champions, receive first-round byes and will host quarterfinal-round games on Saturday. They are No. 1 Sonoma Academy of the NCL II (16-2); No. 2 St. Vincent of the NCL I South (14-1); Middletown (16-1); and No. 4 Ferndale of the Humboldt-Del Norte Little Four (7-7-1).
Middletown hosts the winner of Wednesday”s first-round game between No. 6 St. Helena (9-8-3) and No. 11 St. Bernard (8-10-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Middletown High School.
No. 12 Clear Lake (9-10-3), the fourth-place team out of the NCL I South, travels to Fort Bragg on Wednesday to play the fifth-seeded Timberwolves (12-6-5) at 7 p.m.
Fort Bragg beat Clear Lake 1-0 on Sept. 15 in Fort Bragg, a game in which the Cardinals were without their top scorer on the season, Elena Tipton (22 goals).
“We lost on kind of a fluky play,” Clear Lake co-coach Paul Larrea said. “With Elena back and everyone healthy, I”ve got to like our chances.”
A win in first-round action would send the Cardinals into the quarterfinals on Saturday against No. 4 Ferndale at Fortuna High School.
“I think we had a really good draw,” Larrea said. “We don”t have to play anybody in our league.”
The Division III semifinals are Nov. 11 and the championship game is Nov. 14.
In other first-round games Wednesday, No. 9 Calistoga (7-5-2) plays at No. 8 Rincon Valley Christian (8-7-3), the winner moving on to face Sonoma Academy on Saturday; and No. 7 Roseland Prep (11-4-2) plays at No. 10 Cloverdale (9-7-4), the winner moving on to play St. Vincent on Saturday.
The Cardinals, who battled the flu most of last month, are as healthy as they have been since the start of the season, according to Larrea, who is taking his team to the playoffs for the 15th straight year.
Clear Lake has promoted a handful of junior varsity players to provide some depth, including forward Amely Ballesteros.
“She”s probably the one who will contribute the most,” Larrea said. “But we”re going to go with the 14 girls who got us there.”
Middletown is coming off a school-record best 16-1 regular season under head coach Louise Owens, who has led the Mustangs to three North titles in the last four seasons. Middletown”s only loss was a 2-0 setback to St. Vincent on Sept. 17 in Middletown. The Mustangs take a 12-gmae winning streak into the playoffs.
