ST. HELENA — Ellary Isherwood scored a pair of goals as the Middletown Mustangs registered a big North Central League I girls soccer road win Thursday afternoon with a 3-2 victory over the St. Helena Saints.
The two NCL I powerhouses ended up in a tight game even though Middletown (3-0 league, 4-1 overall) built a 3-0 lead in the first half on the strength of two Isherwood goals sandwiched around a Mariah Ketchum goal.
St. Helena rallied in the second half, closing to 3-2 with six minutes remaining on a twisting corner kick that found its way into the net.
“It hit the wind perfectly and curled in,” Middletown head coach Ashley Hart said.
Middletown packed in its defense during the game’s final minutes and St. Helena never got a good shot at tying the match.
“I dropped Georgia Guerrero back and we had five on defense,” Hart said.
While Middletown aggressively attacked the goal in the first half, Hart said her team backed off in the second half, though not by design.
“We didn’t keep pushing,” she said. “I made some coaching mistakes.”
Harper Moreno and Zamora Rogers anchored the front line of the Middletown defense, one that frustrated the Saints more times than not.
“Our Great Wall of China,” Hart said of Moreno’s and Rogers’ play.
Guerrero and Amber Xavier each picked up an assist.
“St. Helena had a really good defense, but there were some through balls and Ellary and Mariah made strong runs,” Hart said. “Mariah is a bulldog.”
Middletown has a bye Tuesday before returning to action next Thursday at home against Kelseyville at 4 p.m.
In other girls soccer action Thursday:
Lower Lake 1, Willits 1 (tie)
At Lower Lake, Yamilet Saucedo’s goal for Lower Lake was enough to earn the team a 1-1 draw with the Willits Wolverines.
Lower Lake is now 0-3-1 in NCL I play.
“It was a great game,” Lower Lake head coach Ana Duran said. “We actually had enough players this game and two subs.”
