MENDOCINO — The Upper Lake Cougars improved to 3-1-2 in the North Central League II boys soccer standings Wednesday with a come-from-behind 3-2 road win against the Mendocino Cardinals.
Upper Lake is also closing in on a .500 record overall (4-5-3) with three league games remaining, including a Friday visit to Tomales.
Upper Lake head coach Thomas Santana said the success of the Cougars, who haven’t enjoyed much in past seasons, is no secret as his team attempts to qualify for the postseason.
“We’re working hard and we’re developing some good team chemistry,” Santana said. “We’re in a good place right now.”
While Mendocino held a 2-1 halftime lead, Upper Lake battled back in the second half, tying the game on a Sammy Avalos goal and then pushing ahead to stay on a Manny Villalobos free kick with about 15 minutes remaining. Villalobos also scored on a free kick in the first half.
There weren’t any close calls over the final minutes, at least not for Mendocino as Upper Lake pulled back its defense.
“We had a couple more chances to score, not so much Mendocino,” Santana said.
In other boys soccer action Tuesday:
Cloverdale 3, Middletown 2
At Middletown, trying to end a perfect league season for the Cloverdale Eagles, the NCL I champions this season, the Middletown Mustangs just missed under the lights at Middletown.
Cloverdale (13-0) scored on a free kick in the game’s final seconds to pull out the victory and spoil senior night for the Mustangs (8-5-1), who honored their six seniors – Andres Lopez, Roberto Chaires, Diego Rincon, Andrew Mikel, James Watson and Enrique Reyes-Leon before the start of the game.
While it was the league and regular-season finale for the Mustangs, Cloverdale still has one league game remaining Thursday at home against Clear Lake.
“They have been working their tails off,” Middletown coach Roxi Hoogendoorn said of the Mustangs, who will apply for an at-large berth in the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs. “We had that game, I’m so proud of them.”
Nadav Dicovski scored in the first 15 minutes of the first half to stake Middletown to a 1-0 lead, the halftime score.
“Their coach wasn’t happy at all,” Hoogendoorn said. “He was really chewing them out at halftime.”
Cloverdale bounced back with two goals in the second half to push in front, but Dicovski’s second goal of the game, assisted by Audias Pamatz, tied it up with approximately 10 minutes left to play.
When the Eagles scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a free kick, the contest ended only a few seconds later, according to Hoogendoorn.
Three Middletown players picked up yellow cards in the first half and another received one in the second half.
“We were slipping all over out there,” Hoogendoorn said of the wet field conditions that contributed to the yellow cards. “It was drizzling a bit, but the field was wet from the rain that fell Tuesday night.”
Hoogendoorn said the Mustangs played one of their best games of the season even though it ended in a loss.
“They did a great job and Adrian (Backus, the Middletown keeper) stopped a bunch of shots,” Hoogendoorn said. “It was a total team effort.”
Chaires picked up the assist on the first goal by Dicovsky, who headed the ball into the net after receiving a Chaires throw-in.
Middletown finishes the regular season 10-6-1, its best record in many years.
