ARCATA >> The Middletown Mustangs played three games in two days to start the 2017 girls soccer season and came away with two ties and a loss in their season-opening northern road trip.
Middletown (0-1-2), the nine-time defending North Central League I champion, tied McKinleyville 1-1 on Friday in McKinleyville before earning a 2-2 draw early Saturday with St. Bernard’s at Eureka. The Mustangs came back later Saturday and fell 3-1 to Arcata in Arcata.
A team loaded with underclassmen and only four seniors figures to contend for an amazing 10th consecutive league championship later this season. There are seven freshmen and four sophomores on coach Lamont Kucer’s 21-girl-strong Middletown roster, which also includes such veterans as returning All-Leaguers Gracie Armstrong (first team), Aly Ferguson (second team), Courtney Gillies (second team) and Kassi Agapoff (honorable mention). Armstrong, Ferguson and Gillies are seniors and Agapoff is a junior.
The 2017 edition of the Mustangs also features freshmen twin sisters Olivia and Sophie Kucer, daughters of the coach who led Middletown to a 15-4-4 record, including 11-0-3 in league play, in his first season on the sidelines in 2016.
Middletown’s toughest opponent during the three-game weekend series was Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 defending champion Arcata. The Tigers jumped on the Mustangs early for a 2-0 lead before Alyssa Terry closed the gap to 2-1 late in the first half. Terry intercepted an Arcata pass and blasted a shot that ricocheted off the Arcata keeper and Terry herself, striking her in the face. She calmly gathered the rebound and blasted a shot into the back of the net.
Armstrong and Agapoff played well on the defensive end in the loss.
Earlier Saturday the Mustangs tied St. Bernard, getting goals in each half from Ferguson. Terry assisted on the first one and Sophie Kucer on the second.
Standouts on defense were Abby Sabater, Kelsey Lemoine and Alyssa Hart.
Against McKinleyville on Friday, the Mustangs scored first on a goal from Kucer with an assist by Ellie Bazzano. McKinleyville pulled even later in the first half.
“We had a lot of opportunities,” Kucer said of Middletown’s 17 shots on goal.
Standouts were midfielders Gillies and Ferguson and defender Armstrong.
