UPPER LAKE — One day after opening-round play in the third annual Tyler Duncan Memorial Soccer Tournament was postponed because of the unhealthy air quality caused by fires burning throughout Northern California, play finally got under way with a handful of games in the girls and boys divisions.
While the air quality wasn’t that much better Thursday in the Upper Lake area, it was safe enough for the teams to take the field and get the 2021 high school season under way. There were a handful of changes to the tournament lineup, including Lower Lake’s boys and girls dropping out — the girls team because it didn’t have enough players and the boys because of the Cache Creek Fire that swept through the Lower Lake community Wednesday afternoon.
Boys bracket
M’town 2, Clear Lake 0
Middletown’s Nadav Dicovski scored in the first half and he also forced an own goal by Clear Lake in the season opener for both teams. It was the head coaching debut of both Middletown’s Michael Dodd and Clear Lake’s Kevin O’Brien.
The Mustangs (1-0) led 2-0 at the end of the first half.
Dicovski, a junior center/midfielder, opened the scoring 15 minutes into the first half, Andres Lopez picking up the assist. Dicovski was back on the attack a few minutes later when a Clear Lake player tried to intercept one of his shots and instead knocked it into his own net by mistake.
The 2-0 lead proved more than enough for the Mustangs.
“The defense played outstanding,” Dodd said.
Middletown keeper Adrian Backus recorded the shutout with lots of help from defenders Ryan Reed, Matata Mulanda, Elijah Moreno and Bodhi Moore, who is only a freshman. Clear Lake had only two shots on goal.
“He did outstanding,” Dodd said of Moore.
The victory was Middletown’s first since the 2018 season.
The Mustangs played with only nine players because Clear Lake (0-1) had only nine players.
“We wanted to keep it even,” Dodd said. “We’ll have our normal 11 out there tomorrow (Friday) when we play Willits.”
Dodd said he was pleased with the team’s first effort although he expects much more from the Mustangs in the coming weeks.
“I’m happy we got to play today, but there’s a lot of room for improvement,” he said.
Girls bracket
Upper Lake 5, Kelseyville 0
Karlee Zimmerschied scored four goals and Kali Minnis added another as the Upper Lake girls soccer team blanked the Kelseyville Knights in first-round action.
It was the season opener for both teams.
Jaymie Zimmerschied finished with two assists while Ruby Wurm and Mona Campenero had one each for the Cougars .
Upper Lake led 3-0 at halftime.
Upper Lake 2, Kelseyville 0
Vanessa Lopez-Becerra and Karlee Zimmerschied each scored a goal later in the day as the Cougars blanked the Knights again.
Both goals came in the first half. Assists went to Wurm and Karlee Zimmerschied.
Clear Lake 1, Upper Lake 0
Clear Lake, coming off a 3-1 win in its tournament opener against Willits early Thursday, broke a scoreless tie late in the second half to defeat Upper Lake.
Clear Lake scoring was not reported.
Clear Lake 1, Kelseyville 1 (tie)
Clear Lake and Kelseyville deadlocked in the late game. Scoring was not reported by either team.
