LAKEPORT — When these teams met exactly a month ago in Middletown, the host Mustangs couldn’t find the net until well into the second half of a 1-0 victory over the co-ed Clear Lake High School soccer team in North Central League I boys action.
They needed a whole lot less time in their Thursday rematch at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport. To be exact, just 69 seconds. That’s when Middletown forward Nadav Dicovski scored the first of his three first-half goals as the Mustangs cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Cardinals at Don Owens Stadium.
Middletown (6-4-1 league, 8-5-1 overall) led 4-0 at halftime. Dicovski scored the first three goals and Wyatt Moore added the other.
“We just didn’t have an answer for it,” Clear Lake co-head coach Kevin O’Brien said of Middletown’s attack in the first half.
Clear Lake had a handful of scoring opportunities in the first half only to be turned away by a Middletown defense led by keeper Adrian Backus.
“We had several corner kicks but couldn’t finish,” O’Brien said. “We were just flat today although we picked it up a little in the second half. It was not one of our better performances.”
Middletown snapped a two-game league losing streak and is still in the hunt for a postseason at-large berth depending on how it finishes the regular season. The Mustangs have three league games remaining — at Kelseyville on Tuesday, home against league leader Cloverdale Oct. 14, and at Willits Oct. 19. They went 1-1-1 against those teams in the first half of league play, beating Kelseyville, losing to Cloverdale and tying Willits.
Clear Lake plays two games on the road next week — at Lower Lake on Tuesday and at Kelseyville on Thursday.
