MIDDLETOWN — Nadav Dicovski scored twice for Middletown as the Mustangs concluded a perfect North Central League I boys soccer season with a 4-2 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Thursday in Middletown.
Middletown went 8-0 in league play and 11-3 on the regular season. The team automatically advances to the North Coast Section Division I playoffs beginning Nov. 2. The Division 1 field will be released Oct. 30 following the at-large and seeding meeting.
Wyatt Moore and Adrian Backus also scored for the Mustangs, who led 2-0 at halftime. Backus, the team’s starting keeper, came out of the net late in the game to score his goal.
Maico Carrillo scored in the first half for Clear Lake (0-6-1, 0-8-1) and Raul Reyes added a penalty kick in the 80th minute. Vincente Ortega assisted on Carrillo’s goal.
“He scored on the final play of the game,” Clear Lake head coach Kevin O’Brien said of Reyes’ goal.
O’Brien said the Cardinals played their best game of the season against the league-champion Mustangs.
“If we had played that well against Willits (a 0-0 tie Tuesday in Willits) it would have been a different storyline,” O’Brien said. “Our defense played really, really well. We let down a little bit and they (Mustangs) would capitalize every time we did.”
Added O’Brien, “We were able to hang with them. The difference is they have a little more size and a little more speed.”
O’Brien said he is hoping to get the same type of effort when the Cardinals close out their season Tuesday at home against Lower Lake.
“If the team that showed up today shows up again Tuesday, we’ve got as good a chance as anyone,” O’Brien said.
