FORT BRAGG — Freshman Hannah Diaz scored three more goals and the Middletown Mustangs shut out the Fort Bragg Timberwolves 6-0 in a North Central League I North varsity girls” soccer game on Tuesday in Fort Bragg.
A game that began in sunshine and ended in the fog was pretty much all Middletown from beginning to end as the Mustangs improved to 5-0 in the North standings and 13-1-1 overall.
Diaz again led the charge, scoring twice in the first half, once on a penalty kick, as Middletown built a 3-0 halftime lead.
“The defense played solid but I wanted to see more of an offensive attack, offensive fire,” Middletown co-coach Lee Hoage said. “They dug back into a conservative defensive set and we couldn”t quite get behind it. We weren”t creative enough and we were a little sluggish to the ball.”
Missy Denno, Kylie Agapoff and Emily Reed also scored for the Mustangs, who are closing in on another North championship. Diaz also had an assist to go along with another hat trick.
“She absolutely controls the middle of the field,” Hoage said of Diaz. “She makes the defense miss and delivers passes at just the right time. She”s super fast and she sets the tone for us.”
In other girls” soccer action Tuesday:
St. Vincent 4, Clear Lake 0
At Petaluma, an already depleted Clear Lake bench because of illness suffered a rash of injuries in the first half en route to a shutout loss to the undefeated St. Vincent Mustangs in NCL I South action.
St. Vincent improved to 6-0 in the South standings with two games remaining and has won 10 of its last 11. Clear Lake dropped to 2-4 in league and 8-10-2 overall.
“Our defense did a pretty good job until we lost some people,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said of a scoreless first half. “At one point I had four starters on the bench. You can”t have that against a good team.”
Among the Clear Lake casualties were keeper Darian Ottolini (eye) and defender Gabby Reyes (foot). Forward Telia Paskaly and Emily Norwood also missed a handful of minutes with minor injuries.
“She (Reyes) was a big loss for us,” Larrea said. “She didn”t play at all in the second half.”
Shannon Carroll scored twice to lead St. Vincent.
“The bottom line is we need to win our final two games to make the playoffs,” Larrea said of league games Thursday against Upper Lake and next Tuesday against St. Helena, both in Lakeport.
Willits 4, Upper Lake 3
At Upper Lake, Alexxis Buchholz, Bethany Rymel and Brianna Carter all scored in the second half as the Upper Lake Cougars charged back from a 4-0 halftime deficit before falling to the Willits Wolverines in NCL I interlock play.
It was the final home game for the Cougars, who close out the season with league road games against Clear Lake, Cloverdale and St. Vincent.
“We had a lot of outstanding play today,” Upper Lake coach Mike Sheets said. “We played really hard, maybe because it was our final home game.”
Upper Lake closed to 4-3 with eight minutes left in the match and had a couple more opportunities to get back even, according to Sheets.
“We just couldn”t seem to get it tied,” he added.
Upper Lake keeper Zania Esqueda had 14 saves.
Kelseyville 3, Lower Lake 0
At Lower Lake, Sabrina Lyon scored twice, once on a penalty kick, and the Kelseyville Knights blanked the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I North action.
Leilani Drawdy also scored for the Knights, who led 2-0 at halftime.
Midfielder Kenzie Gould, marking back Brittani Scheckells and stopper Maria Aguirre turned in solid efforts, according to Kelseyville coach Christie Fricke.
“That”s the best Kenzie has played all season,” Fricke said.
Kelseyville”s coach also had high praise for Lower Lake”s keeper.
“We had the ball on their half of the field most of the game and she made a lot of saves,” Fricke said. “She played very well.”
Boys” soccer
Fort Bragg 9, Middletown 0
At Middletown, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves scored eight times in the first half and cruised past the host Mustangs in NCL I North play.
While there wasn”t much to cheer about on the Middletown side of the field, head coach Chuck Rannells said freshman Nick Santos came off the bench to play left wing and did well.
“He hustled, he played hard, he gave us 100 percent. He never quit,” Rannells said. “We”re still just trying to build here ? but it”s still frustrating.”
Middletown hosts Kelseyville on Thursday.
