UPPER LAKE — It was a 5-5 tie on the scoreboard, but it felt like a loss to the Upper Lake Cougars and head coach Daniella Santana on Friday afternoon as they battled the visiting Mendocino Cardinals to a high-scoring draw in North Central League III girls soccer action at Upper Lake High School.
“We made some real terrible mistakes,” Santana said. “Bad clearances. That’s not a good game. I’m surprised we didn’t lose.”
Sophomore forward Karlee Zimmerschied did all of Upper Lake’s scoring – three goals in the first half, which the Cougars finished with a 3-2 lead, and the final two in the second half. Mendocino knotted things up at 5-5 with a penalty kick with about 10 minutes remaining in the game. Neither team really threatened after that, according to Santana.
“The ball spent time in the middle of the field,” Santana said of the game’s final minutes.
Santana said she couldn’t put her finger on the exact cause of Upper Lake’s less-than-stellar play, but said missing three days of school because of the PG&E power shutoff, even though they practiced during that stretch, seemed to put her Cougars into a kind of funk.
“Maybe they missed school,” she said.
Upper Lake plays two games on the road next week against Calistoga (Tuesday) and Laytonville (Friday).
