LAKEPORT — Considering they went 0-14 in the North Central League I girls soccer standings only a year ago, the Clear Lake Cardinals have played their way back into contention, and they just missed Wednesday night in a 2-1 home loss to the St. Helena Saints.
Clear Lake (8-5 league, 12-7 overall) held a 1-0 halftime lead against the Saints (10-4), a perennial league title contender, but the Cardinals couldn’t hold off St. Helena in the second half despite a stellar defensive effort led by keeper Trinity Jardstrom.
St. Helena pulled even midway through the second half and scored what proved to be the winning goal with four minutes remaining as a Saints player headed in a corner kick, which Jardstrom got a hand on as it was heading toward the goal.
“It somehow spun into the net,” Clear Lake coach Derick Fiske said of the winning shot.
Jardstrom made a handful of other incredible saves, including deflecting a long-range shot over the top of the frame, according to Fiske.
“I don’t know how she got to that ball,” Fiske said. “She played incredible.”
Although the Cardinals still have one league game remaining, that against Middletown on Tuesday in Lakeport, a reschedule of a game wiped out on Oct. 10 by a PG&E power shut-off, they decided to honor their seniors – Lexi Tejada, Thea White and Mavis Pyorre – prior to the St. Helena game.
“Our freshmen, sophomores and juniors played their hearts out for the seniors,” Fiske said. “And the seniors played great. We really played some shutdown defense in the first half and offensively we had a lot of good runs.”
Clear Lake finally broke through on a Mikayla Fifield shot assisted by Tejada with seven minutes left in the first half.
“Everyone felt good about that first half and it being senior night, we had a lot of emotion going into halftime,” Fiske said. “I think we just started to get a little bit tired in the second half and St. Helena kept putting pressure on us.”
After the Middletown game on Tuesday, the Cardinals will apply for an at-large berth in the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs that get underway next month.
In other girls soccer action Wednesday:
Tech 5, Upper Lake 3
At Rohnert Park, the Upper Lake Cougars fell to the Technology Titans in NCL III action.
“It was a good match, but we made a lot of mistakes, like being offsides,” Upper Lake coach Daniella Santana said. “Being offsides cost us like two goals.”
Technology held a 4-2 halftime lead that Harmony Byrd cut to 4-3 with a shot that cleared the goalie’s head before settling into the net. Byrd’s goal just three minutes into the second half gave Upper Lake plenty of time to mount a comeback, but the Cougars were shut out the rest of the way. The Titans added an insurance goal later in the half.
Karlee Zimmerschied scored twice in the first half for the Cougars. Vanessa Beccera-Lopez and Tristin Rhodes had assists.
Standouts for the Cougars included Byrd at center/defensive midfielder, Maddy Young in the midfield, and Monique Campanero on defense.
Upper Lake hosts Roseland University Prep on Friday and closes out its regular-season schedule Wednesday at Mendocino. Both games are scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
