KELSEYVILLE >> Damian Ledesma scored two goals in the first half and teammate Nixon Pineda came off the bench to score a hat trick in the second half as the Kelseyville Knights continued their recent solid play with a 8-0 victory over the Middletown Mustangs in North Central League I boys soccer action at Kelseyville.
The Knights (4-3-2 league, 5-5-2 overall) have won three straight and are undefeated in their last four games (3-0-1). The three-time defending league champions put themselves in an early hole in the NCL I race by starting 0-2-1, but have responded of late.
“I would say we were in control most of the game,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said of a Knights squad that kept the ball on Middletown’s half of the field nearly the entire game. “They (Mustangs) looked a little shorthanded. They had only two subs,” Ledesma added.
“I was missing four players (because of sickness and injury) and I had another player injured in the second half, which made it a little rough,” Middletown coach Luis Chairez said. “We haven’t played in a week but they haven’t either. They just outplayed us.”
Ledesma – as in Damian, son of the coach – sandwiched a pair of goals around a Gio Salguero goal in the first half to give the Knights a 3-0 halftime lead.
Goals early in the second half from Trey Conrad and Anthony Pantaleon, both on penalty kicks, pushed the Knights’ advantage to 5-0, at which point the Kelseyville reserves took over. That’s when Pineda went to work.
“My subs played good,” Ledesma said.
Strong passing throughout the game helped Kelseyville’s cause.
“We did a little more passing than we have been,” Ledesma said. “I was happy.”
Conrad and Esgar Aguirre had two assists apiece.
Kelseyville hosts Fort Bragg on Wednesday. Middletown returns to action Thursday at home against Clear Lake.
In other boys soccer action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 5, Willits 2
At Lakeport, bouncing back from a 4-2 home loss to Lower Lake on Monday, the Clear Lake Cardinals scored five times in the second half to upend the Willits Wolverines in NCL I play.
Willits took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
“We were pretty unlucky as we have been all year in the first half,” Clear Lake coach Shaun Hornby said. “We had a good pep talk at halftime and came out and played the best half we’ve had this year.”
Goals by Flavio Pizano and Ulysis Valencia early in the second half gave Clear Lake a 2-1 lead. Willits pulled even midway through the half but the rest of the game belonged to the Cardinals (3-6-1, 4-6-1) and Valencia, who scored three more times in the final 15 minutes.
“He’s a beast and he’s carrying an injury as well,” Hornby said of Valencia. “He has an ankle problem but he got moving on it and came alive.”
Clear Lake had to survive a barrage of Willits shots in the first half, according to Hornby.
“Our keeper Jesus Inostrona kind of kept us in it,” Hornby said. “They had a lot of shots in the first half and he stopped almost all of them.”
Point Arena 1, Upper Lake 0
At Point Arena, the Point Arena Pirates scored with 13 minutes left to play to beat Upper Lake in NCL III action.
“They found a soft spot in our defense and took advantage,” Upper Lake coach Kevin O’Brien said. “Overall we played really well … the whole team played well.”
The two teams were evenly matched from the start, according to O’Brien.
“Honestly it was a great game. Both sides played well and it was getting physical,” he said.
Upper Lake (4-3, 4-11) travels to Laytonville on Wednesday before returning home Friday for a rematch with Point Arena at 4 p.m.
