Kelseyville ties Cloverdale 2-2; Clear Lake shuts out Middletown 3-0 in boys soccer action
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LOWER LAKE >> The Fort Bragg Timberwolves held off the Lower Lake Trojans 2-1 in a North Central League boys soccer battle for first place Tuesday afternoon at Gordon Sadler Field in Lower Lake.
Fort Bragg (10-1-1 league, 15-4-2 overall) now leads Lower Lake (7-3-1, 9-4-3) by two full games in the league standings. Fort Bragg has two games remaining and Lower Lake three. The Timberwolves need only win one of their two remaining games to lock up the undisputed league championship. They tied Lower Lake and Kelseyville for first place last season.
All the scoring took place in the first half.
Yael Viveros scored Lower Lake’s lone goal.
The Trojans travel to Lakeport on Thursday to play Clear Lake at 6:15 p.m.
In other league action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 2, Cloverdale 2 (tie)
At Cloverdale, the Cloverdale Eagles scored twice in the final 10 minutes, their last goal coming in the final seconds, to earn a draw with the Kelseyville Knights (6-3-3, 9-6-4).
Jair Inostroza Carrillo and Anthony Arias goals staked Kelseyville to a 2-0 lead. Gavin Cunningham had an assist.
“We couldn’t have played a better 70 minutes,” Kelseyville head coach Kc White said. “Unfortunately, the game is 80 minutes. We controlled the game beautifully and got a lot of shots up. We missed too many solid chances to increase our lead, and when you keep giving teams hope, it will bite you sometimes. We have given up multi-goal leads entirely too often this season.”
Inostroza Carrillo scored in the 33rd minute on a 45-yard free kick.
“He has such a pure strike,” White said. “That was one of 11 shots we had in the first half.”
Kelseyville added to its lead in the 62nd minute on a through ball from Cunningham to Arias, who struck it past the Cloverdale keeper for a 2-0 lead.
After that, White said the Knights let their guard down.
“We let off the gas, started doing stupid things, and it cost us,” he said.
White gave high marks to the play of Arias and Nick Arredondo.
“Both had excellent games. I think that was Nick’s best game of the year,” White said. “He has really come into his own as the season has progressed. This is his first year on my team. He played football the previous three years of his high school career and, of course, he is a sharpshooter for our basketball team. I’m going to try to get him to play volleyball for me in the spring this year, too.”
Added White, “Anthony has had his ups and downs this year, but this was definitely one of his best games this season. He’s starting to play more consistently as we get toward the end of the season, which is to be expected for a freshman playing center mid. I’m happy to watch his growth.”
Kelseyville returns home Thursday to host Middletown at 6:15 p.m. It’s senior night for the Knights, who will honor Inostroza Carrillo, Arredondo, Joey Watson, Angel Beernal, Julio Lopez, Gerardo Garcia and Erik Navarrete Mora after the game.
Clear Lake 3, Middletown 0
At Middletown, Clear Lake took the lead with a penalty kick in the first half and pulled away in the second half to beat the Middletown Mustangs.
“It was another hard loss,” Middletown head coach Katie Robinson said. “We went into the game hoping that switching to a 4-3-2-1 formation would give us better opportunities to create plays and get shots on goal. The change helped us generate more opportunities, but unfortunately Clear Lake’s keeper was there to stop our attempts. We had great movement on the pitch and controlled the ball for much of the game, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Robinson praised the play of Clear Lake’s Levi Ewing, a striker who made the most of his opportunities for the Cardinals (6-4-2, 11-5-4).
“Even when marked closely,” Robinson said. “On our side, our two center midfielders, Wyatt Davis and Caleb Ahlmann, did a great job helping control and hold down the midfield. Nalu Johson and Harrison Brown also worked well together, continuing to strengthen our defensive line and limit Clear Lake’s opportunities.”
Middletown had to play a portion of the second half with only 10 players after one of its players pickd up a red card, which contributed to Clear Lake scoring its final goal, according to Robinson.
Clear Lake scoring was not reported.
“Although the final score wasn’t what we wanted, there were positives to take away from the game,” Robinson said. “Our movement, possession and ability to create more opportunities showed progress. Now we need to keep building on that progress, be more clinical in front of the goal, and turn those opportunities into results. We’re putting in the work, and we’ll keep pushing forward together.”
Middletown (4-7, 6-9-2) visits Kelseyville on Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
Willits 4, Upper Lake 0
At Upper Lake, Willits shut out Upper Lake, keeping the Cougars (0-11, 0-16-1) winless in league and on the season.
Willits (5-3-3, 5-8-4) broke the game open with three second-half goals.
Upper Lake plays a non-league game Wednesday in Laytonville at 4:30 p.m. The Cougars resume league action Thursday in Cloverdale at 5:45 p.m.
