MIDDLETOWN — Middletown didn”t need Hannah Diaz”s second-half goal, which provided the icing on the cake in a 5-1 victory over Roseland Prep in a North Coast Section Division III quarterfinal-round girls” soccer playoff game Saturday night in Middletown.
The No. 1-seeded Mustangs (17-3) advance to the semifinals Wednesday night against fifth-seeded St. Helena (12-3). Game time is 7 p.m. in Middletown. St. Helena upset No. 4 Clear Lake 1-0 in another quarterfinal-round game Saturday.
“It”s a great win but we still have some work to do,” Middletown coach Lee Hoage said in reference to the St. Helena game. “(Controlling) the midfield is a big thing for me and we didn”t do that (in the second half) tonight.”
Despite his misgivings, Hoage said the Mustangs overcame the elements, namely rain that left the Middletown field a mud bog by the second half, to secure the victory.
Hoage said he instructed his players to keep the ball low, but that the ran eventually caught up to them and took away their passing game. At that point, the game evolved into a “boot-and-scoot” for both sides.
“It certainly adds to the drama,” Hoage said of the weather conditions. “The ball rolls differently.”
The weather couldn”t stop Diaz, the Mustangs” fleet-footed midfielder, from earning a hat trick. Her third and final goal of the game came in the 68th minute when a Roseland Prep penalty resulted in a free kick at the edge of the penalty box. Diaz sent off a curving shot that deflected off the hands of Roseland keeper Acacia Lara and into the net.
Diaz”s first goal occurred in the seventh minute of play as she played a pass up through the Knights” defense and fired off a line drive from 20 yards out. Her second goal came on a through ball in the 31st minute. Diaz played the ball almost to the front of the net before knocking it in.
“She can make things happen when she is in the zone,” Hoage said of Diaz, who is only a sophomore and the reigning North Central League I MVP.
Kaylee Cash opened the scoring in the fifth minute and Diaz connected a few minutes later to make it 2-0. Emily Reed”s goal in the 16th minute boosted the Mustangs” advantage to 3-0 and another goal by Diaz in the 31st minute made it 4-0 at halftime.
Roseland Prep changed its formation, switching from a 4-4-2 to a 5-3-2, to open the second half and immediately went on the offensive.
“We switched players around and held out center back Lucero Trejo,” Roseland Prep coach Alexica Bosque said. “The girls are good at changing positions as they need to.”
The Knights (12-6) kept Middletown on the defensive for much of the second half, a complete turnaround from the first half during which Middletown pushed up onto the Roseland Prep side of the pitch for most of the first 40 minutes.
Roseland Prep finally broke through in the 48th minute to cut the gap to 4-1. Some great defensive work by the Mustangs foiled an offensive surge by the Knights before Roseland Prep senior forward Aime Isias fired off a low shot past Middletown keeper Ashley Lescher.
Middletown did have nine shots in the second half, including a pair of corner opportunities, but failed to connect.
