MIDDLETOWN >> Determined, focused and all business. That”s the Middletown High School girls” soccer team coach Amy Emerson watched warm up Saturday night prior to a North Coast Section Division III quarterfinal-round playoff game against the Clear Lake Cardinals at Bill Foltmer Field in Middletown.
And nothing changed once the Mustangs stepped onto the field. They went on to beat Clear Lake 2-0 and nail down another trip to the sectional semifinals, which take place Wednesday against No. 2 seed St. Vincent in Petaluma at 2:30 p.m.
If Middletown (15-2-3), the No. 3 seed, can upset St. Vincent (16-2-2), it will reach the sectional championship game for a third straight year, each time with a different coach.
“It was one of the best games we”ve played all season,” Middletown first-year coach Amy Emerson said. “Normally the girls come out all giggly and joking between themselves,” Emerson said. “There was none of that this time. They were silent, serious and had nothing on their minds except beating Clear Lake. I knew then we weren”t going to lose that game.”
Middletown also made some big changes to its starting lineup prior to the game, including moving one of its assist leaders, Megan Touros, back to sweeper, sending its top scorer, Kaleigh Alves (27 goals), to the midfield, and putting Ashlyn Welton at stopper.
“Megan is so fast that we figured if they got through our first line of defense, she would be there to stop them,” Emerson said. “And they couldn”t get past them (Touros and Welton). Megan probably saved five or six shots on goal.”
Alves” move was purely tactical, according to Emerson, who said she wasn”t going to give the Cardinals a chance to double-team the junior like they did in the second of two league meetings this season won 1-0 by Clear Lake at Lakeport.
“She was able to make some beautiful passes to open players and keep the offense moving,” Emerson said of Alves.
Welton not only bolstered the Middletown defense, but ironically it was the junior who scored the game”s first goal on a 35-yard kick in the 23rd minute of the first half.
“Our goalie (Rory Ottolini) isn”t the tallest girl, but she did manage to get her fingertips on it, but not her entire hand,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said. “It was like a direct kick, just a great shot.”
Welton has battled health issues a good part of the season and she missed most of the week leading up to the game with the flu. She had only one day of practice — the Friday before the game.
With nine days off between their last regular-season game and the playoff opener, the Mustangs were able to rest a handful of key players who definitely benefited from the time off, according to Emerson. Two of those players were veterans Madison Ketchum and Caitlin Lemoine, who scored the game”s final goal five minutes into the second half to make it 2-0. On the same play, Clear Lake lost key defender Mina Werner to an injury and she wasn”t able to reutrn. Alves assisted on the goal that sealed the victory.
Losing Werner put even more stress on a Clear Lake defense that lost another of its top players, Ciera Moreno, to a season-ending injury last month.
“At times we were really under siege, but they played together, played well and didn”t give up anything else,” Larrea said.
Big contributions from Ottolini, Jordan Chapin, Emily Hayes and Hannah Norwood kept the game as tight as it was, according to Larrea.
“Rory played outstanding,” Larrea said. “She stopped several really good shots. For a first-year goalie, she had a great game.”
“Clear Lake came ready to play,” Emerson said. “They had beat us once before and thought they could to it again.”
Emerson was no less impressed with the play of her squad, a performance that had its roots in several grueling practices leading up to the game.
“We took our practices up a notch, to a different level this past week,” Emerson said.
With the help of former girls” head coach Lee Hoage and Middletown boys” head coach Luis Chaires, the Mustangs split up into groups last week for some intensive workouts that paid dividends on Saturday night against Clear Lake.
While several Mustangs turned into strong performances on Saturday, no one did better than the sophomore Lemoine, according to Emerson.
“She was the star of the show on offense, played the game of a lifetime,” Emerson said.
Middletown”s coach said she was almost in tears thinking about the team that first took the field back in August on the first day of practice and the team that left the field on Saturday night just one victory shy of another sectional championship game appearance.
“These girls have come such a long way and have showed so much heart,” she said. “We”re not always the strongest team out there or the fastest, but no one can beat us when it comes to playing with heart.”
Likewise Larrea said he couldn”t have asked any more from his Cardinals.
“The girls never quit, played hard,” he said. “It was a really good game. Both sides played well. That was probably the quickest first half I”ve ever seen. Both teams were just flying up and down the field. There was lots of good passing and defense.”
Clear Lake finishes the 2014 campaign at 16-6-3.
“That”s a pretty good season,” Larrea said. “We met expectations and one of those was to compete with Middletown, which we did.”
Middletown”s expectations probably would need at least one more win to be realized.
“The girls are excited about playing St. Vincent,” she said.
