UPPER LAKE — Three goals in the second half propelled the Upper Lake High School girls soccer team to a 4-0 victory over Roseland Collegiate Prep on Friday afternoon in Upper Lake.
Locked in a 0-0 fight at halftime, Upper Lake finally broke through on a goal by Vanessa Lopez-Beccera, with an assist from Tristin Rhodes nearly 11 minutes into the second half. Later in the same half, Rhodes subbed into the game for Karlee Zimmerschied.
“I told her she was going to score a goal for me and she told me she would,” Upper Lake coach Daniella Santana said of the freshman Rhodes, who did exactly that a few minutes later to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
Zimmerschied, coming off an eight-goal performance in a 16-0 win over Anderson Valley on Tuesday, re-entered the game and scored to make it 3-0. Maddy Young’s penalty kick later in the half rounded out the scoring.
Lopez-Beccera assisted on both the Rhodes and Zimmerschied goals as Upper Lake improved to 3-2 on the season with its second straight shutout victory.
Right-centerback Harmony Byrd anchored the Cougars’ defense.
“She controls things on defense every game,” Santana said.
Santana said the Cougars had multiple scoring opportunities in the first half, largely because of some “beautiful crossing passes” from Young.
“We were taking a lot of shots, but they just weren’t falling,” Santana said. “It was pretty frustrating for me and it was pretty frustrating watching Maddy get frustrated.”
Upper Lake returns to action Monday against Clear Lake (4-1) in Lakeport at 5:45 p.m., part of a doubleheader that features the Upper Lake-Clear Lake boys at 4 p.m. Clear Lake’s teams defeated Upper Lake earlier this season at the Cougars’ own tournament, the second annual Tyler Duncan Memorial.
“Our score was 3-2,” Santana said. “I’m looking for some revenge. I’m hoping my girls are hungrier this time.”
