UPPER LAKE — The Middletown High School girls and Lower Lake High School boys walked off with some hardware after winning their respective divisions Saturday as the second annual Tyler Duncan Memorial Soccer Tournament wrapped up at Upper Lake High School.
Girls
Middletown didn’t allow a goal in its three tournament wins, by far the toughest coming in action early Saturday when the Mustangs held off St. Bernard of Eureka 1-0 to reach the finals against Clear Lake, who they dispatched 8-0 despite having only 20 minutes to rest between games.
“St. Bernard was the runner-up in Division 3 last year,” Middletown coach Lamont Kucer said of last year’s North Coast Section playoffs. “They are the most physical team we see each year and they’re no different this year.”
St. Bernard picked up a pair of yellow cards in the game.
“It was a little chippy out there,” Kucer said.
After a scoreless first half, Middletown broke through midway through the second half when forward Kamilah Chairez subbed into the game at forward and worked the ball deep into St. Bernard’s end before dishing it off to Paige Astley, who assisted Ellary Isherwood on her goal.
Lamont said he subbed out his forwards at the start of the second half to keep maximum pressure on a St. Bernard team that appeared to be tiring a bit playing in the 90-degree weather.
“We thought it worked to our advantage in the second half,” Kucer said of the warm conditions. “They’re not used to that.”
Both teams had scoring opportunities in the final minutes but couldn’t convert, according to Kucer.
Middletown’s victory over Clear Lake on Saturday afternoon in the championship game held no such suspense as the Mustangs’ Sophie Kucer scored the first of her three goals in the opening minute. Other goals by Isherwood and Brie Alves made is 3-0 early on as the Mustangs went on to open up a 6-0 halftime advantage.
Isherwood, who is just a freshman, also finished with three goals. Astley also scored in the win. Kucer had three assists.
Middletown keeper Leslie Chairez registered a third straight shutout as the Mustangs improved to 3-0 on the season.
The Mustangs face a big week ahead as they host Roseland University Prep on Tuesday and Fortuna on Thursday. Fortuna reached the Division I semifinals a year ago as did the Mustangs while Roseland University Prep made it as far as the quarterfinals.
In other Saturday girls games reported to the Record-Bee, St. Bernard defeated Upper Lake in the third-place game, scoring twice in the second half to break a 1-1 halftime tie.
Boys
Lower Lake and Clear Lake battled to a 1-1 tie in the championship game, leaving both teams with 2-0-1 tournament records. Lower Lake won the tiebreaker based on more goals scored during the tournament, according to Lower Lake coach PauL Krohn.
Edsel Robles scored on a corner kick from teammate Angelo Dwight for Lower Lake’s lone goal. Clear Lake’s goal came on a penalty kick.
Lower Lake advanced to the finals with wins over Kelseyville and Middletown while Clear Lake beat Upper Lake and Potter Valley.
In other boys action Saturday, Middletown and Upper Lake played to a 2-2 tie. Julian Cruz and Jason Martinez scored for Upper Lake. Erick Espinoza had an assist.
Middletown tied the game with five minutes left. Scoring by the Mustangs was not reported.
