ST. HELENA — Welcome to the big time Lyzet Montanez.
Montanez, a Lower Lake High School sophomore primarily used on defense, scored a breakaway goal with 10 minutes remaining to lift the Trojans to a 1-0 upset victory over the St. Helena Saints in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division I girls soccer playoffs on Wednesday night at St. Helena.
Lower Lake (8-7-1) returns to action Saturday night against No. 2 seed Fortuna (13-4-1) in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match advances to the semifinals on Wednesday against an opponent and a site to be determined.
“She plays fullback most of the time, but we moved her up front because of her speed,” Lower Lake assistant coach Jeremy Mock said of Montanez, who missed a wide-open shot two minutes prior to making what turned out to be the game-winning goal at the 70-minute mark.
“She had a real nice clean run at the goal and put it in,” Mock said. “The keeper had no chance.”
The playoff victory was a sweet bit of payback for the Trojans, who entered the playoffs as the No. 10 seed to St. Helena’s No. 7. In two league meetings earlier this season, Lower Lake lost to St. Helena by a single goal each time – 2-1 at St. Helena on Sept. 11 and 4-3 at Lower Lake on Oct. 4.
“The defense played its best game of the year,” Mock said. “I’m extremely happy.”
Michele Bautista, the Lower Lake keeper, earned her third shutout of the season.
“It was one of her best games of the year,” Mock added.
Lower Lake went 6-7-1 during North Central League I play although many of its losses were hotly contested games. The Trojans finished the regular season with three straight closes losses but snapped that losing streak against the Saints, who finished second behind Middletown in the NCL I standings.
St. Helena finishes the season at 10-4-4.
