KELSEYVILLE >> The Kelseyville Knights gave undefeated Middletown all it could handle before falling 2-1 to the Mustangs in a North Central League I girls soccer game on Tuesday evening at Kelseyville High School.
Rather than stack the field with defenders, Kelseyville coach Eric Hoefler switched to a three-forward lineup in an attempt to put as much pressure on Middletown’s defense as possible.
“We figured it was going to be a street fight so we wanted to start swinging right away,” Hoefler said. “We scored first and knocked ‘em back on their heels.”
Kat Brown’s goal, assisted by Paloma Ortiz, proved to be the only goal of the first half. Kelseyville’s 1-0 lead held up until early in the second half when Middletown (9-0 league, 14-2-2 overall) pulled even on an Aly Ferguson goal assisted by Brie Alves. The Mustangs pushed ahead to stay a few minutes later when Ferguson scored again on a shot that slipped between the outstretched reach of the Kelseyville keeper and the crossbar.
“It was a beautiful shot,” Middletown coach Lamont Kucer said.
Middletown’s coach had nothing but praise for Kelseyville’s strong effort.
“They played us tough down here (in Middletown) earlier in the season and they came out in an attacking formation today and were able to get one past us, and that gave them the momentum.”
Kucer said he switched some things around at halftime that seemed to help in the second half.
“We were getting shots,” he said. “We had over 20 shots on goal but couldn’t get a lot of quality shots because they did such a good job on defense. That’s a credit to them.”
Ferguson, one of the team’s tried and true veterans, took matters into her own hands in the second half, according to Kucer.
“It was very nice to see the senior leadership on this team step up,” Kucer said. “They knew what they were doing wrong and what they needed to fix.”
Middletown was unable to practice all of last week because of smoky conditions caused by North Bay fires and an advisory evacuation notice issued for Middletown midweek because of the Tubbs Fire burning on Mount St. Helena.
“Our first practice was Monday,” Kucer said. “We weren’t sharp, we weren’t going to the ball well. The first half felt like we a step slow the whole way.”
“There was good, clean, hard play on both sides,” Hoefler said. “It really was a good game. Our record (3-6, 4-8) doesn’t show the capabilities we have.
“I’m super proud of the kids even though we didn’t get the win,” Hoefler added.
In other girls soccer action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 3, Willits 0
At Lakeport, Carina Martinez scored twice in the second half for insurance, but it was Lexi Burke’s goal in the first half that provided Clear Lake with all the offense it needed to beat the Willits Wolverines in NCL I action.
“Everybody was working as a team tonight,” Clear Lake coach Tommy Burke said a day after the Cardinals tied a winless Lower Lake squad 3-3 at Lakeport. “I was very happy with their play tonight. We did a good job working the ball from the back to the front.”
Burke’s goal four minutes into the game, with Kortnie Reynolds picking up the assist, put the Cardinals (6-3-1, 9-6-1) ahead to stay.
It remained a 1-0 game until the 20th minute of the second half when Martinez scored with an assist from Nicole Duncan. Martinez added an unassisted goal 10 minutes later to boost the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0.
Clear Lake hits the road Thursday to play Middletown at 3 p.m.
