LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals and Middletown Mustangs picked up girls soccer victories on Thursday as they move closer to their Oct. 20 showdown in Middletown.
North Central League I-leading Clear Lake beat Fort Bragg 3-0 at Lakeport while Middletown knocked off Lower Lake 7-0 in Lower Lake. The Cardinals improved to 5-0 in the league standings and 6-3-1 overall with their sixth straight victory while the Mustangs moved to 5-1 in league play and 8-3 overall.
Middletown hosts Clear Lake next Thursday at 3 p.m., a rematch of their Oct. 4 meeting won 2-1 by Clear Lake at Lakeport.
Clear Lake
At Lakeport, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves got physical in the first half with Clear Lake and battled the Cardinals to a 0-0 halftime tie.
It wasn’t until senior Ashton Fiske scored on a penalty kick 12 minutes into the second half that the Cardinals broke the scoreless deadlock.
“We knew we were going to be in a physical game,” Clear Lake head coach Derick Fiske said. “We were evenly matched in the first half, there were a lot of 50-50 balls.”
The Timberwolves knocked Ashton Fiske, daughter of the coach, out of the game a couple of times with their physical play,
“She got knocked down pretty hard one time,” Fiske said of his daughter, who was already nursing sore ribs before the game.
Clear Lake’s defense returned the favor by shutting Fort Bragg down cold. The Cardinals’ senior back line of Bella Hayes, Anyssa Perez and Brianna Knight made sure very little got through to keeper Kiley Bartell, according to Fiske.
“Kiley was bored again back there,” Fiske said.
Meanwhile Clear Lake’s midfield tandem of Nancy Ruzicka and Grace Gomez kept pushing the ball forward onto Fort Bragg’s side of the field, which is where the Cardinals spent nearly all of the second half and most of the game.
Ashton Fiske gave the Cardinals some breathing room with her second goal of the game, which was set up by a direct kick.
“She got a rebound and put it right back in,” Fiske said.
Fiske was in the hunt for a third goal a few minutes later, and drawing plenty of attention from the Fort Bragg defense in the process, when she passed the ball to freshman Giselle Carbajal, who scored to make it 3-0.
“Giselle hammered it home,” Fiske said.
Clear Lake had a handful of other scoring opportunities, including a Fiske penalty kick that the Fort Bragg keeper blocked.
“The Fort Bragg goalie played the game of her life,” Fiske said. “We always seem to draw the goalie who is having her best game of the season.”
Clear Lake spends next week on the road, first at Willits on Tuesday and then at Middletown on Thursday.
Middletown
At Lower Lake, freshman forward Jenna Tufo scored four times and Autumn Clark added two more goals as the Middletown Mustangs shut out Lower Lake to remain a game behind Clear Lake in the league standings.
“They played beautifully,” Middletown head coach Ashlyn Welton said of the Mustangs. “I could not be more proud of them.”
Shaylee Rudy also had a goal for Middletown. Shay Tufo picked up two assists while Bella Alcantar, Sophie Yerba and Jenna Tufo each had one.
Looking ahead to the Mustangs’ showdown with Clear Lake next Thursday, Welton said, “We’re very excited for next week.”
