Tight boys soccer race going right down to the wire
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KELSEYVILLE >> The North Central League I boys soccer race comes down to one very big game Tuesday when the Lower Lake Trojans visit the Kelseyville Knights in what is shaping up to be a winner-take-all showdown in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Fort Bragg all won on Thursday and wrap up their league schedules Tuesday. Kelseyville (9-1-1) and Lower Lake (9-1-1) lead Fort Bragg (8-1-2) by a half-game, setting up an interesting final round of games. The Lower Lake at Kelseyville winner secures the outright league championship, however, if that game ends in a tie and Fort Bragg beats Clear Lake at Lakeport, all three teams would finish 9-1-2 and share the title.
“Five down, one to go,” Kelseyville head coach Kc White said Thursday following the Knights’ 5-0 home victory over the Middletown Mustangs in Kelseyville.
“A few weeks ago I presented the challenge of winning out to my team to win league and they have answered the call to this point,” White said of Kelseyville’s second half of league play.
Kelseyville’s last league loss – and only league loss to this point – was a 2-1 setback at Lower Lake on Oct. 2 that closed out the Knights’ first half in league play. Since then, they’ve shut out, in order, Clear Lake, Fort Bragg, Upper Lake, Willits and Middletown
“Five wins, five shutouts to give us a chance to win league on Tuesday,” White said. “I could not be prouder of my team for not overlooking Middletown when Lower Lake awaits next week. We came out focused right from the start and jumped on them early.”
Kelseyville built a 3-0 halftime lead behind two goals from Jair Inostroza Carrillo, who opened the scoring with a header. Sebastian Cacho added his league-leading 20th goal of the season a few minutes later, and Ivan Carrillo picked up an assist as Inostroza Carrillo scored again.
“The second half consisted of some ‘bangers’ as the kids say nowadays,” White said.
In the 50th minute, Inostroza Carrillo sent a corner kick on the ground to the top of the box where Ivan Carrillo found the left corner of the goal. Inostroza Carrillo’s throw-in four minutes later found the foot of Julip Lopez, who scored to make it 5-0.
“The big lead made way for my reserves to get playing time and they didn’t disappoint out there,” White said. “I’m proud of them for staying focused despite not getting a lot of playing time. It’s difficult to put so much time for not much reward, but each of them comes to practice every day and continue to learn and grow. We should be set up nicely in the future because of their work ethic.”
Diego Rico finished the game with a pair of assists.
Tuesday’s meeting between Kelseyville and Lower Lake is the rubber match for the two teams this season. The Knights won 3-1 in non-league action Sept. 2 in Lower Lake, and the Trojans won the first league meeting 2-1 exactly one month later, also in Lower Lake.
“We now get them on our home field for the time in four years to play for a league championship on senior night (Kelseyville will honors its 11 seniors),” White said. “It should be a fantastic game. We are excited for the opportunity.”
The Knights take a 14-6-2 overall mark into the game against the 12-3-1 Trojans.
Action begins at 4:30 p.m. with the Kelseyville-Lower Lake girls game to follow.
In other boys soccer action Thursday:
Lower Lake 7, Clear Lake 1
At Lower Lake, Agustin Sanchez scored four goals while teammates Kevin Medina, Adryan Ruano and Luis Medina Collado also had goals in a league win over the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Lower Lake (9-1-1, 12-3-1) enters Tuesday’s league finale at Kelseyville (9-1-1) needing a tie or a win to claim some share of the league championship. The Knights are in the same position while Fort Bragg (8-1-2) will be rooting for the two teams to tie as it takes on Clear Lake in Lakeport.
Adrian Guzman assisted on five of the Trojans’ goals.
Clear Lake scoring was not reported. The Cardinals are 4-6 in league and 7-9-1 overall.
