{"id":3916,"date":"2025-09-12T20:34:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=3916"},"modified":"2025-09-12T20:34:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:34:03","slug":"lady-knights-cougars-win-league-openers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=3916","title":{"rendered":"Lady Knights, Cougars win league openers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rico sparks Kelseyville with two goals, Garcia has hat trick for Upper Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAKEPORT >> Mikaela Rico scored goals in each half as the Kelseyville Knights won their North Central League I opener, beating the Clear Lake Cardinals 2-0 in varsity girls soccer action at Lakeport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the 10th<\/sup> victory of the season for the Knights (1-0, 10-1), who struck early as Rico\u2019s first goal came only four minutes into the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the rest of the first half the Knights controlled possession and created several opportunities, but the Cardinals\u2019 goalkeeper came up with multiple key saves to keep the game close,\u201d Kelseyville head coach Irma Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remained a 1-0 game deep into the second half. The Knights finally picked up a huge insurance goal with 17 minutes remaining, Rico punching another shot into the net off a corner-kick assist from Vanessa Reyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a physical game, but the Lady Knights showed resilience, teamwork and trust in one another to secure the win,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThe back line \u2013 Xiomara Arias, Regina Rico, My Ogo, Arionna Sanderson, Lexi Pantaleon and Evelin Valdovinos \u2013 stood strong and kept the Cardinals (0-1, 3-4-1) from finding the net, playing a huge role in the shutout victory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA very tough loss,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Gustavo Carbajal said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of my team for giving it 100 percent. We have several injuries and made some little mistakes that cost us, but we will get there. Our team is very competitive and will make a comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Rodrigurez, \u201cStarting league play with a win sets a strong tone for the season, and we are proud of the way the girls battled together as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelseyville hosts Fort Bragg on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. Clear Lake visits Upper Lake on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other girls soccer action Thursday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake 3, Lower Lake 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Lower Lake, Magdely Garcia\u2019s hat trick powered the Upper Lake Cougars to a league-opening win over the Lower Lake Trojans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rylee Zimmerschied assisted on the first of Garcia\u2019s three goals and Alexis Robbins on the second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anchoring Upper Lake\u2019s defense were Saphira Hughes, Emily Dalton, Kaylin Smith and Yadira Beecher, according to head coach Kathleen O\u2019Rourke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey held the line on defense for nearly the entire 80 minutes, keeping the ball on the Trojans\u2019 half for most of the game,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said. \u201cLeyla Marcks made a strong showing at keeper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake improved to 2-5 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur team has played better every game, and I am excited to see how far we go this season,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower Lake scoring was not reported. The Trojans are 1-4-1 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upper Lake hosts Clear Lake on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. Lower Lake travels to Willits on Tuesday for a 6:45 p.m. game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willits 3, Middletown 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Willits, the Middletown Mustangs came up short in their league opener against the Willits Wolverines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown scoring was not reported. The Mustangs are 1-4-1 overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rico sparks Kelseyville with two goals, Garcia has hat trick for Upper Lake Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKEPORT >> Mikaela Rico scored goals in each half as the Kelseyville Knights won their North Central League I opener, beating the Clear Lake Cardinals 2-0 in varsity girls soccer action at Lakeport. It was the 10th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,47,6,17,18,19,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3917,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3916\/revisions\/3917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}