LAKEPORT >> Needing a win to pull even in the North Central League I girls’ soccer race, that’s exactly what the Middletown Mustangs got on Thursday against the previously unbeaten Clear Lake Cardinals at Lakeport.
Middletown scored three times in the second half to beat Clear Lake 3-0. The same two teams played to a 1-1 draw when they met Sept. 13 in Middleotwn.
Combined with St. Helena’s 2-0 win over Willits on Thursday, the league race is now knotted up in a three-team logjam. Middletown is 5-0-3 while Clear Lake and St. Helena are both 6-1-1. All three teams have six games remaining. Among the most critical will be Middletown’s Oct. 20 home game against St. Helena and Clear Lake’s Oct. 25 trip to St. Helena. Kelseyville (3-3-2) also figures to have a say in the final outcome.
“Our season was on the line and we came out and played like it,” Middletown coach Lamont Kucer said. “We had a lot of opportunities in the first half. We were able to capitalize on them in the second half.”
After a 0-0 first half, Middletown’s Caitlin Lemoine scored just 18 seconds into the second half to put Middletown ahead to stay. It remained 1-0 until one of Clear Lake’s top defenders, Gina Faalelea sustained an ankle injury while chasing what Clear Lake coach Tommy Burke called a 50-50 ball.
“It was a hard tackle and she caught the worst of it,” Burke said of Faalelea, who had to leave the game and did not return.
Middletown added two insurance goals on shots by Aly Ferguson and Lemoine.
“We had to make some adjustments in our back line after Gina left and we melted down,” Burke said. “We served the ball up to them.”
Kucer said Middletown’s defense came up big all day against the Cardinals, thanks in large part to the play of center/defenseman Gracie Armstrong.
“She just jumped in front of everything,” Kucer said. “Our midfield also did a great job. Our passing was pretty good.”
Lemoine, Julisa Garcia and Courtney Gillies all had assists for the Mustangs, who improved to 7-3-4 on the season. The Cardinals are 9-5-2.
