MIDDLETOWN — Both Middletown and Clear Lake will have to wait for another day to pick up their first wins of the season as the two varsity boys” squads battled to a 0-0 stalemate in their North Central League I game on Tuesday in Middletown.
The Mustangs clearly held the upper hand as they spent nearly the entire match camped out on Clear Lake”s side of the pitch and fired shot after shot at the Cardinal net without success. Clear Lake keeper Raymundo Gregorio did a yeoman”s job of fending off some 27 Mustangs shots and proved to be the man of the hour as far as the Clear Lake defense was concerned.
“We just can”t seem to finish,” Middletown coach Chuck Rannells said. “When they need to slow down and take their time they push it, and when they need to push it up they slow down. It”s frustrating.”
While Middletown had no problem advancing the ball through the Clear Lake defense to the front of the net, it was just the opposite for the Cardinals, who had difficulty making it past the half line for most of the game.
“It starts all over again Thursday,” Rannells said of the second round of league play.
In other boys” soccer action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 5, Lower Lake 2
At Kelseyville, for the Kelseyville Knights, it was a case of double-O … as in Oscar Martinez and Oscar Lopez.
Oscar Martinez scored three times and had two assists while Oscar Lopez anchored the Knights” defense from his sweeper position in a league win over Lower Lake.
Jorge Aguilera and Cesar Arroyo also scored for the Knights, who led 3-1 at halftime.
“Rain fell throughout the game,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said. “Sometimes it was light but sometimes it was really pouring.
“There was a lot of crashing into each other because it was so wet,” he added.
