UPPER LAKE — All the extra time and sweat Upper Lake has spent in practice working on free kicks, corner kicks and penalty kicks paid off Wednesday night as the Cougars took a giant step toward winning the North Central League II girls soccer championship with a 2-1 victory over Credo in a battle of undefeated teams at Upper Lake High School.
Going into Wednesday’s action, Upper Lake, Credo and Mendocino (which had a bye) all had 7-0-2 league records. In the first half of league play, Upper Lake tied both Credo and Mendocino, while Mendocino and Credo also played to a draw. The Cougars’ 2-1 victory gives them a one-game lead over Credo, which travels to Mendocino on Friday. Upper Lake also has one game left with Mendocino, that on Oct. 26 in Upper Lake — the Cougars’ league and regular-season finale.
To put it another way, the Cougars now find themselves the driver’s seat in the league race and their situation will be even better if Credo beats Mendocino on Friday.
While Upper Lake improved to 8-0-2 in league and 18-0-2 overall, Credo, the defending NCL II champion, fell to 11-1-2 on the season. Nya Marcks’ tap-in of a Maddy Young direct free kick early in the second half snapped a 1-1 halftime tie and moved the Cougars closer to the prize that barely eluded them a year ago, the league title.
So is Daniella Santana, Upper Lake’s head coach, feeling good about the situation?
“Not really,” a smiling Santana said. “Now there’s even more pressure on us.”
That might not be a bad thing since pressure is something the Cougars seem to thrive on this season as their overall record suggests.
“We spent extra time in practice working on penalty kicks, direct kicks and our corner kicks because we needed work on all of them,” Santana said. “A lot of these games can come down to one kick, so you better be ready.”
Just as Upper Lake did earlier this season in a 1-1 tie with Credo at Rohnert Park, the Cougars scored first, this time on a Jayme Zimmerschied penalty kick early in the first half after a Gryphon player was called for a hand-ball infraction in the penalty box. Zimmerschied’s hard shot curled away from Credo keeper Addie Bleasdell, who made a move toward the ball, but it was past her before she could get a hand on it.
And just like the first meeting between the two teams last month, Credo answered almost immediately. A few minutes after Zimmerschied put Upper Lake in front, Maitri Gilbert worked her way behind the Cougars’ defense and scored to make it 1-1.
While both teams had a handful of scoring opportunities in the first half, Upper Lake took charge in the second half, its midfielders and defense keeping Credo bottled up at its own end of the field. The Cougars had a number of shots to take the lead before Young’s free kick bounced in front of the Credo net where Marcks shepherded it into the goal despite Bleasdell’s best efforts to knock it away — she actually got her hands on the ball before it slipped from her grasp.
Upper Lake continued to apply pressure after taking a 2-1 lead but couldn’t get another shot past Bleasdell. Credo had a couple of scoring chances late only to be turned away by the Cougars, who lost Vanessa Lopez-Becerra to a knee injury late in the half.
Santana said that while her veteran players stepped up against Credo, so too did freshmen Sofia Cruz and and Saphira Hughes.
“They did a good job,” Santana said.
Before they square off with Mendocino on Oct. 26, the Cougars still have three other games remaining — Friday at home against Anderson Valley, next Wednesday at Technology, and Oct. 21 at Calistoga.
