MIDDLETOWN — The veteran team met the young team on Tuesday evening and the result was a 10-0 Middletown victory over Clear Lake in North Central League I girls soccer action at Middletown.
Middletown, the 10-time defending league champion, improved to 5-0 in the NCL I standings and 12-2 overall. Clear Lake fell to 0-5 and 1-9.
Substituting freely throughout the game, the Mustangs were able to give all of their players ample playing time.
“Our goal was to maintain possession, pass and talk a lot,” Middletown head coach Lamont Kucer said. “We’ll need to do all those things when we play (at) St. Helena on Thursday.”
Kassi Agapoff’s hat trick led the Mustangs. Sisters Olivia and Sophie Kucer added two goals apiece while Harper Moreno also had two goals. Alyssa Terry scored once.
Middletown led 6-0 after the first half.
“They’re a young team with a couple of veterans but to their credit they didn’t give up,” Kucer said of the Cardinals. “They fought hard the whole time.”
First-year Clear Lake head coach Annie Zombil concurred with Kucer’s assessment.
“Overall they played good,” Zombil said of the Cardinals. “They’re getting better every day.”
Zombil was especially pleased with the defense provided by Riana Kniss and Kristianna Wagner.
Looking ahead to Thursday’s big road match with the Saints, the team that tied Middletown for the league title a year ago, Kucer said his players are excited about the matchup.
“We’re really looking forward to going to St. Helena and playing.”
In other girls soccer action Tuesday:
Lower Lake 3, Fort Bragg 0
At Lower Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans shut out the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in NCL I action, improving to 3-1 in the league standings and 4-1 overall.
Strong play in the midfield from the likes Anahi Robles, Fabiola Santana, Kayla Zepada and Jaqueline Galvan powered the Trojans, according to head coach Andrea Mahling, who also praised the play of defenders Kimberly Bautista and Margarita Cordova and keeper Alondra Solorio Gonzalez.
“They all played really hard,” Mahling said. “Fort Bragg came really hard in the second half and my girls held their ground.”
Solorio Gonzalez stopped nine shots in the second half to preserve the shutout victory.
Lower Lake took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal by Jenny Orozco. The Trojans added a pair of insurance goals in the second half courtesy of Santana and Anna Gutierrez. Santana and Aracely Martinez recorded assists.
The Trojans return to action Thursday at Willits.
