LAKEPORT — Paloma Ortiz scored two goals in the second half to rally the Kelseyville Knights to a 2-1 North Central League I girls soccer win over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Thursday evening in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (0-6 league, 1-10 overall) led 1-0 at halftime on a Skye Bruch goal assisted by Angelica Garnica. Ortiz tied the match with her first goal at the 15-minute mark of the second half. Her second goal snapped a 1-1 tie with 17 minutes remaining and was assisted by younger sister Alondra Ortiz.
“After that we dropped back one of our attacking mids onto defense and held them off,” Kelseyville coach Eric Hoefler said. “Our back line of Olivia Pantaleon, Paola Cacho and Kelcie Paulson did a great job. So did our keeper Daniela Valerio. She stopped some key shots late in the game. Clear Lake was pushing us hard.”
Clear Lake coach Annie Zombil said the Cardinals missed an opportunity to build a comfortable lead in the opening 10 minutes, settling for just the one goal by Bruch.
“We controlled the game from the get-go, the first 10 minutes we could have had six goals,” Zombil said. “We did not take advantage of the opportunities we had. We didn’t finish and came it back to bite us.”
Two of those opportunities were set up corner kicks from Kortnie Reynolds that bounced right into the box but Clear Lake couldn’t get the ball into the net, according to Zombil, who said the effort was there from her players but the ability to finish plays remains a work in progress.
“Overall they worked hard and wanted it, that’s the good thing,” Zombil said.
It was the first league win for the Knights (1-3-2, 2-6-2), who avenged a 4-2 non-league loss to the Cardinals on Aug. 25 during tournament action in Upper Lake.
In other girls soccer action Thursday:
Lower Lake 2, Willits 2 (tie)
At Lower Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead in the second half as the Willits Wolverines came back to secure a tie in NCL I action.
Willits almost won the game on a penalty kick but Lower Lake keeper Michele Bautista blocked it and then dove on the loose ball to end the threat.
“She had an amazing penalty save,” Lower Lake coach Andrea Mahling said of Bautista, who finished with 12 saves.
Lower Lake took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a Jennie Orozco goal. Fabiola Santana’s goal in the second half made it 2-0 before the Wolverines began to fight back.
The Trojans received solid play on the defensive end of the field from Kimberly Bautista, Magarita Cordova, Michaela Stone and Jeanette Castro, according to Mahling.
“They were amazing on defense,” she said. “Our defense was amazing.”
A physical game from the start, players on both teams received several warnings from the officials, according to Mahling.
Lower Lake is 3-1-1 in league play and 4-1-1 overall.
Middletown 0, St. Helena 0 (tie)
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs and St. Helena Saints ended up in a scoreless draw in NCL I action.
“At least it didn’t hurt us,” Middletown head coach Lamont Kucer said of the game’s outcome, which leaves the Mustangs at 5-0-1 in the NCL I standings to St. Helena’s 4-0-2. “We’re looking forward to getting them back on our home turf (Oct. 16).”
Middletown spent the majority of the game on St. Helena’s side of the field, but the Saints had the Mustangs well-scouted, according to Kucer.
“They wouldn’t let us take any outside shots and that’s kind of been our thing this season,” he said. “We had quite a few scoring opportunities, more than they did.”
Both defenses turned in rock-solid performances, according to Kucer.
“Instead of rushing our shots, we were maybe taking too much time and they deflected quite a few of our shots,” he said.
