KELSEYVILLE >> Yep, the Kelseyville High School boys’ soccer team was excited about pulling down the No. 2 seed in the North Coast Section Division I field on Sunday when the section released its at-large selections and seedings in both the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
So was their coach, Eduardo Ledesma.
“I was really shocked,” Ledesma said. “When I found out, I was the first to jump in the air.”
Kelseyville is one of two North Central League I champions from Lake County and one of four county teams overall to qualify for postseason play, which begins with first-round games on Wednesday followed by quarterfinals on Saturday.
Also making it were:
• The Middletown girls (15-3), NCL I champions and the No. 4 seed in the Division III field.
• The Middletown boys (10-4-4), NCL I runner-up to Kelseyville and coming off their best regular season ever, are the No. 11 seed in the 12-team Division II field.
• The Kelseyville girls (8-5-3), third in the NCL I this season and making their first playoff appearance in more than a decade, are the No. 9 seed in Division III.
Both the Kelseyville boys and Middletown girls have first-round byes and will see their first action Saturday in the quarterfinals. Kelseyville will host the first-round winner between No. 7 Gateway (18-3-2) and No. 10 Fortuna (15-3-4) beginning at 7 p.m. at the Kelseyville High School football field. Middletown plays No. 5 seed Technology (15-4-1) of Rohnert Park at 5:30 p.m. at Bill Foltmer Field.
The Kelseyville girls and Middletown boys are in action Wednesday. Kelseyville travels to St. Helena for a 7 p.m. game against the Saints, who the Knights lost to once and tied once in league play, while Middletown hits the road to play No. 6 seed Making Waves Academy (15-1-3) at 2:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Richmond.
M’town girls
The Mustangs are battle tested in the playoffs as their seniors have reached at least the semifinals three years running. Middletown won the 2012 section title, beating top seed Sonoma Academy, and lost to Sonoma Acadmey in the 2013 finals. Last year it was St. Vincent who ended Middletown’s playoff run in the semifinals.
Should Middetown knock off Technology on Saturday in the quarterfinals, the Mustangs are likely to run into No. 1 seed Sonoma Academy (16-1) in the semifinals on Nov. 11. Like Middletown, Sonoma Academy, the NCL II champion, has a first-round bye. It will play the Kelseyville-St. Helena first-round winner in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The Coyotes have won two straight section championships and are certainly the odds-on favorite to make it three in a row.
Middletown has been battling a rash of injuries during a Valley Fire-disrupted 2015 campaign. The Mustangs rested more of their banged up starters on Saturday in their league finale against Willits and that means they’ll be well rested coming into the playoffs.
“We’ll be ready to go,” Middletown coach Amy Emerson said following the 9-0 win over Willits.
K’ville boys
Kelseyville didn’t face either Fortuna or Gateway during the regular season, so Ledesma isn’t sure which team is the better fit for his Knights. However, Gateway is a known commodity to the Knights, who lost 3-2 to the San Francisco team last year in the first round of the Division II playoffs.
“Gateway is a league champion. I follow MaxPreps, so I know Fortuna has been scoring a lot of goals,” Ledesma said.
So have the Knights, who are an improved version of the team that won the NCL I title a year ago only to fall in the first round of the playoffs.
“I believe so,” Ledesma said when asked if the 2015 Knights were better than the 2014 club. “They have more experience and they communicate better.”
What will it take for Kelseyville to beat either Gateway or Fortuna in the quarterfinals and move on to the semifinals?
“The way we play, we probably need to be more aggressive on the field, to stay focused on defense and stay focused the whole game.”
A strong second-half team in league play, the Knights may also need to play a little better in the first half of any and all playoff games.
“Strike first, after that defend,” Ledesma said.
K’ville girls
First-year coach Eric Hoefler guided the Knights to a playoff visit behind strong play from, among others, Megan Touros, Caroline Contreras and Maria Verdugo. The Knights improved as the season progressed and saved some of their best soccer for the second half of league play, including a 2-1 win over Clear Lake on Oct. 29 in Kelseyville, a victory that ended the Cardinals’ run of 19 straight postseason appearances.
M’town boys
A Middletown win over Making Waves Academy in the first round would move the Mustangs into the Division II quarterfinal on Saturday against Bentley at 2 p.m. at Bentley School in Oakland.
En route to a second-place finish in the NCL I this season, head coach Luis Chairez watched his Mustangs beat league champion Kelseyville 3-2 on Oct. 1 at Kelseyville, the Knights’ only league loss — or loss of any kind — this season.
