LOWER LAKE — Kristy Hayes and Telia Paskaly each had two goals and Paskaly assisted on two others as the Clear Lake Cardinals shut out the Lower Lake Trojans 7-0 in a North Central League I soccer game Tuesday night at Gordon Sadler Field.
Clear Lake”s win combined with Middletown”s loss at home to St. Helena on Tuesday gives the Cardinals (10-0-1 league, 16-2-2) a 1 ?-game lead over Middletown (9-2, 13-3) with three games remaining for each team. If the Cardinals win their next two games against St. Helena (Thursday at home) and Kelseyville (Oct. 25 at Kelseyville), they will clinch the league title regardless of the outcome of their season finale Oct. 27 at home against Middletown.
“We”re just focused on Thursday right now,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said of his team”s next game against St. Helena. “It could get real complicated in a hurry if we lose that game.”
Amely Ballesteros, Chelo Lundquist-Krag and Amber Poff also scored for the Cardinals. Hayes and Kelcie Reynolds had assists.
“We played well ? their goalie did a nice job or it (final score) could have been a lot worse. She stopped a lot of shots.”
Clear Lake, up 4-0 after one half, finished with 36 shots on goal.
The Cardinals started all eight of their seniors and emptied their bench early on against the Trojans.
“We got a lot of people playing time tonight,” Larrea said.
Poff had her first goal of the season.
In other girls” soccer action Tuesday:
St. Helena 3, Middletown 2
At Middletown, the St. Helena Saints upset the Middletown Mustangs, rallying from a 2-1 first-half deficit.
Middletown beat St. Helena 5-1 in the first league meeting at St. Helena, but the Saints evened the season series with a win that drops the Mustangs 1 ? games behind Clear Lake in the NCL I standings with three games remaining for each team.
St. Helena scored with 15 minutes remaining in the game to tie the score at 2 and went ahead 3-2 with six minutes left.
Hannah Diaz scored two unassisted goals for Middletown as the Mustangs opened up a 2-1 halftime lead.
Middletown coach Lee Hoage moved Diaz back onto defense in the second half as the Mustangs attempted to hold their 2-1 lead.
“They just continued to put pressure on us,” Hoage said of the Saints. “And we just got tired. We couldn”t finish.
“All accolades to their persistence,” Hoage said of the Saints.
It was the second loss in five games for the Mustangs since losing senior forward Brittany Cash to a knee injury.
Middletown has to win its remaining three games, including its regular-season finale against Clear Lake Oct. 27 at Lakeport, to have any shot at winning another league title. Clear Lake can wrap up the league title by winning its next two games against St. Helena and Kelseyville.
Middletown hosts Kelseyville on Thursday at 5 p.m.
St. Vincent 9, Upper Lake 0
At Petaluma, NCL II leader St. Vincent shut out the Upper Lake Cougars.
“It”s the first time some of my players have been on artificial turf,” Upper Lake coach Mike Sheets said.
Hannah Wright had 10 saves for the Cougars and Jamie Henry also played well on the defensive end.
“I know it was 9-0, but it could have been a lot worse,” Sheets said.
Tanya Carter and Bethany Rymel each had two shots on goal.
Upper Lake plays its homecoming game Thursday in a rematch with St. Vincent.
“Come out and support the Lady Cougars on homecoming,” Sheets said.
