MIDDLETOWN — Brie Alves and Sophie Kucer each scored twice and had an assist Tuesday afternoon as the Middletown Mustangs took a giant step toward winning a 12th consecutive North Central League I girls soccer championship with a 5-1 victory over the visiting St. Helena Saints.
Middletown (10-0 league, 14-3-1 overall) has four league games remaining and could clinch a tie as soon as Thursday with a win at Lower Lake and a St. Helena (8-3) victory over Cloverdale (9-2) in St. Helena.
St. Helena jumped out to a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game.
“They got us back on our heels a little bit,” Middletown coach Lamont Kucer said.
Ellary Isherwood finally got the Mustangs on the board midway through the half and Sophie Kucer’s first goal gave Middletown a 2-1 halftime lead.
With St. Helena selling out on offense, Middletown began to take full advantage in the second half.
“St. Helena was pushing a lot of numbers forward and that opened up the counterattacks,” Kucer said. “We were getting the through balls and that was creating some opportunities. They were committing a lot of their midfield to the attack.”
Alves scored the first of her two goals 10 minutes into the second half to make it 3-1. Kucer’s second goal made it 4-1 and Alves added an insurance a few minutes later for a 5-1 lead.
While the Saints were able to score early, Middletown’s defense shut them out the rest of the way. Defenders Olivia Kucer, Harper Moreno and Paige Astley along with keeper Leslie Chairez all had a big hand in that, according to Kucer.
“Paige is strong, she’s fast and fearless,” Kucer said. “St. Helena has some physical players but she doesn’t shy away from contact.
“Olivia and Harper … those two played great,” Kucer added. “Having Leslie out there is like having another coach on the field.”
The Mustangs are still awaiting the return of injured starter Abby Sabater, who is close to coming back. They might be without Isherwood when they travel to Lower Lake because she’s nursing a bruised leg.
“She’s tough and gutted it out today,” Kucer said.
In other girls soccer action Tuesday:
Cloverdale 2, Clear Lake 1
At Lakeport, Cloverdale snapped a 1-1 tie 28 minutes into the second half and held off the Clear Lake Cardinals (6-4, 10-6).
Cloverdale held a 1-0 halftime lead before Lexi Tejada’s unassisted goal tied the score early in the second half. The Cardinals kept the ball on the Eagles’ side of the field a long time and missed a couple of close calls before the Eagles finally broke the tie.
“It takes one mistake,” Clear Lake coach Derick Fiske said the events leading up to Cloverdale’s game-winning goal. “One missed touch, one missed kick and they scored.”
Clear Lake put on a full-press attack in the final minutes but couldn’t find the net.
“We had four or five shots,” Fiske said. “Mikayla (Fifield) hit a shot from 30 yards out that grazed the top of the crossbar.”
Cloverdale’s head coach picked up a yellow card and an assistant coach was ejected before the game ended, according to Fiske.
“Both teams played real aggressive,” he said. “It was a good, aggressive game for the most part.”
Lower Lake 2, Kelseyville 1
At Kelseyville, Melissa Mendez punched in a ricochet shot midway through the second half to give the Lower Lake Trojans a hard-fought league win over the Kelseyville Knights.
Kimberly Bautista assisted on both of Lower Lake’s goals, including a Margarita Cordova goal in the first half.
The game was tied 1-1 at halftime.
“It was an amazing game overall,” Lower Lake coach Andrea Mahling said as the Trojans improved to 3-8 in league and 4-11 overall. “We had great defense.”
Standouts for the Trojans included Naheyli Santana, Michaela Stone, Evelyn Villalobos and Anna Gutierrez, according to Mahling.
Kelseyville scoring was not reported.
Lower Lake hosts undefeated league leader Middletown on Thursday while Kelseyville hosts Willits. Both games start at 5:45 p.m.
