KELSEYVILLE >> Following a girls” game in which there wasn”t much drama, the Kelseyville and St. Helena varsity boys” soccer teams more than compensated by battling to a 5-5 tie in North Central League I action under the lights at Kelseyville”s football field.
In the early game, St. Helena shut out the Kelseyville girls 2-0, scoring twice in the first half and then holding off the Knights the rest of the way.
“We had quite a few shots, hit some crossbars but couldn”t get the ball to go in,” Kelseyville coach Dave Wold said. “We were so close so many times. We had our chances.”
The biggest blow to the team came before the game started, according to Wold, who said the Knights would be without Juliette Brown for the remainder of the season. Wold cited disciplinary reasons for her absence and said it”s a real blow to his squad.
“Definitely a big hit,” Wold said. “She”s so fast, we lose a lot when she”s not in there. Now I”ve got to make some adjustments.”
Several Knights turned in strong efforts, with Alex Duarte at the top of the list.
“She was amazing tonight,” Wold said.
Kelseyville is now 1-5-2 in league and 5-6-2 overall.
In the boys” game that followed, Kelseyville, the undefeated league leader, fell behind 4-1 in the first half much to the dismay of coach Eduardo Ledesma, who said he asn”t sure he was watching the same squad that shut out Willits 1-0 a day earlier.
“I got a little angry,” Ledesma said when asked about his halftime speech. “They were going through our defense like butter. I made some changes to the defense. St. Helena is fast up front and I put in faster defenders.”
It worked.
Kelseyville (6-0-2, 9-1-2) scored two quick goals to make it a 4-3 game and appeared to tie the score at 4 on a Victor Cacho shot that was disallowed on an offsides call.
“I don”t think it was offsides,” Ledesma said.
St. Helena came right back to take a 5-3 lead. Kelseyville eventually tied it on goals by Omar Rodriguez and Ricardo Covarrubias, who tallied his second goal of the game at the 70-minute mark.
Giovanni Ruiz and Enrique Cacho also scored for the Knights.
