WILLITS — The Middletown Mustangs increased their lead over St. Helena in the North Central League I girls soccer standings on Tuesday evening with a 3-1 road victory over the Willits Wolverines.
Middletown (8-0-1 league, 15-2-2 overall) entered play Tuesday leading St. Helena (6-0-2) by one point in the league standings. Both teams have five games remaining, including an Oct. 16 showdown in Middletown. St. Helena could manage only a 2-2 tie with Cloverdale on Tuesday, leaving the Saints at 6-0-3 in league, the equivalent of one game behind the Mustangs.
“It was good to go on the road in those conditions and get a win,” Middletown head coach Lamont Kucer said of a slick and muddy Willits field, dampened by rain overnight Monday into Tuesday. “The ball skidded a lot and the bounces were all over the place.”
The officiating also didn’t help Middletown early on as the Mustangs picked up two quick yellow cards.
“We didn’t score until about 20 minutes into the game,” Kucer said. “We kind of got rolling after that and got comfortable.”
Kassi Agapoff opened the scoring for the Mustangs. Sophie Kucer and Brie Alves added goals later in the first half for a 3-0 halftime lead. Zamora Rogers, Ellie Bazzano and Nayla Chaires each had an assist.
Willits scored off a corner kick in the second half.
“They have a pretty strong defense that’s hard to break,” Kucer said of the Wolverines.
Middletown returns home Thursday to play Cloverdale.
In other girls soccer action Tuesday:
Lower Lake 4, Clear Lake 0
At Lower Lake, the Lower Lake Trojans scored in the first minute of the game and went on to shut out the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Jenny Orozco’s quick goal staked the Trojans (5-2-1, 6-2-1) to a lead they would not relinquish. She later assisted on another goal.
Fabiola Santana scored twice for the Trojans, who led 3-0 at halftime, and Anahi Robles also had a goal.
“We have a very good passing game,” Lower Lake coach Andrea Mahling said. “They’re working very well together. They understand the game and what they’re supposed to do.”
Clear Lake (0-9, 1-13) had a fair amount of scoring chances but couldn’t find the back of the net, something that has plagued the team throughout the season.
“We played good, we competed, we just could not finish,” Clear Lake coach Annie Zombil said. “It’s a psychological block somewhere. We were sending the ball forward, but my forwards just couldn’t finish.”
Zombil gave high marks to the play of defender Angelica Garnica.
“She just controlled the ball back there. She did her job very well,” Zombil said.
Lower Lake is home Thursday to host St. Helena while Clear Lake hosts Fort Bragg.
