UPPER LAKE — Vanessa Lopez-Becerra and Nya Marcks each had a goal and an assist Friday night as the Upper Lake Cougars shut out the Clear Lake Cardinals 3-0 in non-league girls soccer action at Upper Lake High School.
Maddy Young also scored an unassisted goal for the Cougars, who improved to 6-0 on the season as Clear Lake fell to 0-2-2.
“Everybody did great today,” Upper Lake head coach Daniella Santana said. “This is probably the most complete game I’ve watched them play.”
Upper Lake took a 2-0 lead into halftime on the strength of Marcks’ goal, assisted by Lopez-Becerra, and Young’s goal. The Cougars added an insurance goal in the second half when Lopez-Becerra scored with an assist from Marcks.
“Defensively we did exactly what we wanted to do,” Clear Lake head coach Derick Fiske said of the Cardinals’ play.
Boys soccer
Prior to the Upper Lake-Clear Lake girls game, the boys teams from the same two schools squared off and Upper Lake emerged with a 1-0 victory on the strength of Manny Villalobos’ second-half goal.
“A long shot from outside the box, a beautiful goal,” Upper Lake head coach Thomas Santana said of Villalobos’ game-winning shot.
Clear Lake was making its season debut. The Cardinals (0-1) and Cougars (2-4) battled through a scoreless first half during which the Cardinals lost a player because of a red card, forcing them to play one man down the rest of the game.
“The boys fought hard,” Clear Lake head coach Kevin O’Brien said. “I’m not too unhappy with the fight we put up.”
Santana said Villalobos, Sammy Avalos, Nicholas Barnes and Jonathan Pulido all turned in strong efforts for the Cougars.
Both Upper Lake teams are back in action Monday when they visit Willits in non-league action. Clear Lake’s teams travel to Rohnert Park on Wednesday to take on Credo in non-league action.
