UPPER LAKE — It was supposed to be a hotly contested and tense showdown with the North Central League II title riding on the line, much like it was when these same two teams tied 3-3 back on Sept. 30.
Guess again.
The Upper Lake Cougars, needing a win or a tie against the Mendocino Cardinals to lock up the undisputed league championship Wednesday afternoon in Upper Lake, administered one of the most thorough beatings you’ll see this side of grandpa’s woodshed. Ashlyn Rhodes scored three second-half goals within a 12-minute span and Nya Marcks and Vanessa Lopez-Becerra added two goals apiece in a 9-1 rout.
Upper Lake (10-0-2 league, 22-0-2 overall) wrapped up an undefeated regular season in the process, the only semi-blemishes on that record being ties with Credo and Mendocino during the first half of league play. The Cougars beat both of those teams in the second half. It certainly was a far cry from their first meeting with Mendocino, which ended in a 3-3 tie on the Mendocino County coast nearly a month ago.
“They played great,” coach Thomas Santana said of the Cougars’ offensive eruption against Mendocino. Santana was filling in for his sister, head coach Daniella Santana, who was unable to attend the game because of a work commitment.
“We shut down their top player and they didn’t know what to do,” Santana said.
That top player, junior Stevie Lundquist, scored all three of Mendocino’s goals back on Sept. 30.
“We marked her, played a box-and-one around her,” Santana said. “Kat (Lopez-Geary) and Maddy (Young) took her out of the game. She’s a really good player. I saw her play on their co-ed team a year ago and knew she was something special.”
The Mendocino Cardinals didn’t have long to wait for things to go south. Marcks saw to that by scoring just a couple of minutes into the game. Lindquist had a couple of shots at tying it soon after, but Upper Lake keeper Kali Minnis made a spectacular save on a line drive that seemed destined for the net. Another of Lindquist’s shots missed just high above the frame, and that was pretty much it for her until late in the game when the Cougars had already built a 8-0 lead.
Not long after Marcks’ goal put Upper Lake ahead to stay, Lopez-Becerra booted one past the Mendocino keeper at point-blank range to make it 2-0, and Marcks scored later in the half with an assist from Rhodes to give the Cougars a 3-0 halftime advantage, which is all they needed as things turned out.
Upper Lake was far from done, however. After just missing out on a league title a year ago when they finished second behind Credo, the Cougars weren’t taking any chances on a Mendocino comeback.
Lopez-Becerra scored her second goal of the game a minute into the second half to make it 4-0, at which point the Cardinals changed keepers. It didn’t help.
In an amazing display of footwoork and shooting accuracy, Rhodes scored her first two goals in rapid-fire succession, angling the ball past the new Mendocino keeper and into the net both times — and on the second goal past another Mendocino defender as well — to push Upper Lake’s lead to 6-0.
Rhodes added yet another goal midway through the half for a 7-0 lead as she completed her hat rick.
Young then scored to make it 8-0 before Lindquist broke up the shutout. Minutes later Tristin Rhodes scored to give the Cougars a 9-1 cushion.
“I told them before the game we’re not coming out here for a tie,” Santana said. “I told them the final score would be 6-0 in our favor. I was off, but I was off in the right direction.”
Upper Lake’s defenders and midfielders did an excellent job of pushing the ball forward to the team’s strikers, who kept the pressure on Mendocino for much of the first half and nearly all of the six-goal second half.
“We kept up the high pressure and against a good team like Mendocino that’s what it takes,” Santana said. “It was Mendocino weather today (the temperature was in the mid-60s) but it didn’t matter. The girls played great.”
Had the Cougars lost the game, they would have shared the league title with both Credo and Mendocino.
Upper Lake now advances to the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs where it could – and most likely will – face Mendocino again. The Cougars reached the Division 3 finals a year ago only to lose to St. Bernard of Eureka.
Because it was the final home game of the regular season Upper Lake honored its six seniors following the league-clinching victory. That group included Lopez-Becerra, Lopez-Geary, Young, Trinity Blancas, Tatum Salas and Tristin Rhodes.
The Division 3 playoff field will be set Sunday during the section’s at-large and seeding meeting. First-round playoff games are next Wednesday.
