SANTA ROSA >> Early goals by Sophie Kucer and Julisa Garcia and a suffocating Middletown High School defense added up to a 2-0 victory for the Mustangs in a non-league girls soccer game against Roseland University Prep on Wednesday afternoon in Santa Rosa.
Kucer scored an unassisted goal at the 10-minute mark of the first half and Garcia scored 10 minutes later with an assist from Georgia Guerrero.
It was the season opener for the 10-time defending North Central League I champions and the Mustangs show no signs of slowing down any time soon. There are only five seniors on the 19-girl-strong roster, and head coach Lamont Kucer said they’re all players.
“What I like is that we have a solid team from top to bottom, it’s easy to make substitutions,” Kucer said.
And the Mustangs (1-0) are loaded in the team speed department, especially on defense. Case in point was Wednesday’s opener, which figures to be the first of many shutouts for Middletown this season.
Keeper Hanna Morris registered six saves, including a couple of tough chances, and Kassi Agapoff, Kucer, Zamora Rogers and Kelsey Lemoine took care of the rest. Rogers, filling in for the injured Abby Sabater at center-back, formed a great 1-2 punch along with Lemoine, according to Kucer.
“They played great together,” he said.
Meanwhile the veteran Agapoff “won every ball” that came her way, according to Kucer.
“Once we got those two early goals we were able to defend everything that came our way,” Kucer said. “We made a lot of substitutions and everybody got a lot of playing time.”
Middletown returns to action Thursday against St. Bernard in the opening round of the Tyler Duncan Memorial tournament at Upper Lake High School. Game time is 5:30 p.m. The Mustangs play another game on Friday and two more on Saturday as the tournament concludes.
