{"id":7625,"date":"2026-11-07T17:28:33","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7625"},"modified":"2026-11-07T17:28:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:28:33","slug":"lady-knights-reach-section-title-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=7625","title":{"rendered":"Lady Knights reach section title game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelseyville outlasts St. Bernard in 2-1 double-overtime thriller at Kelseyville<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville High School girls soccer head coach Irma Rodriguez said she\u2019s not exactly sure how Hiliana Rico scored in the second overtime of a 2-1 win over the St. Bernard Crusaders of Eureka on Friday night in the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division 1 playoffs, only that Rico\u2019s game-winning shot landed in the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Rodriguez is completely sure of another thing. The Knights (21-1-1), undefeated North Central League I champions for a second year in a row and winners of 18 straight this season, are playing in the Division 1 championship game Wednesday night against No. 2 seed Eureka at 7 p.m. It\u2019s the first sectional final the Kelseyville girls have reached in their soccer history, which means a first ever section championship awaits them if they can beat the Loggers (12-3-1), the undefeated Humboldt-Del Norte Pacific League champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know how to put tonight into words,\u201d Rodriguez said after the Knights outlasted a playoff-hardened St. Bernard squad (NCS Division 3 champions in 2019, 2021-22 and 2024). \u201cWhat a game, what a battle, and what a team. We are beyond proud of our Lady Knights. Every single one of these girls let their heart on the field tonight, and it showed from the first whistle to the very last kick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kylee Denham staked Kelseyville to a 1-0 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half. The score remained right there until St. Bernard (13-6-2), champions of the Humboldt-Del Norte Redwood League this season, scored in the second half to pull even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second half was an absolute battle,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cBoth teams fought hard, going back and forth, determined to come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crusaders missed a golden opportunity to take the lead later in the second half when they were awarded a penalty kick, but a tremendous stop by keeper Grace Hobbs left the score at 1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn incredible one-handed save,\u201d Rodriguez said of Hobbs\u2019 defensive gem. \u201cGrace denied the goal and kept our Lady Knights alive. What a stop!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After regulation time expired, the two teams battled through a scoreless first overtime. In the second overtime, the freshman Rico stepped up to win it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, my goodness, I\u2019m still trying to process what happened,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThe ball was bouncing around, ping-ponging off players \u2026 everyone was fighting for possession and somehow in the middle of all that chaos Hiliana got her foot on it and sent it into the net.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Rodriguez, \u201cThe excitement, the emotions, the determination, the teamwork \u2026 I don\u2019t think words can truly describe what we witnessed tonight. These girls never gave up. They fought for every ball, supported one another and played with so much heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodriguez said she\u2019s hoping to see the stands packed Wednesday night when the Knights try to make history by winning a first section title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne team, one dream and one more game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAME NOTES: <\/strong>While the Knights are gunning for a first section title, the Loggers are looking for their sixth. They won four straight between 2021-24 as well as the 2018 championship \u2026 Middletown (2019, Division 1) and Clear Lake (2001, Class A) are the only Lake County schools with section titles in girls soccer. Middletown would have been the odds-on favorite to repeat in 2020 \u2013 the Mustangs had all of their key players returning \u2013 but the season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic \u2026 Ferndale won last year\u2019s Division 1 title \u2026 If the Knights beat Eureka they\u2019ll match the school-record 22 games they won last season when they finished 22-2. The final of those two losses was a 3-2 double-overtime loss to Eureka in the semifinals at Kelseyville. That game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, the Knights scoring twice in the second half.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelseyville outlasts St. Bernard in 2-1 double-overtime thriller at Kelseyville Lake County Sports on Facebook KELSEYVILLE >> Kelseyville High School girls soccer head coach Irma Rodriguez said she\u2019s not exactly sure how Hiliana Rico scored in the second overtime of a 2-1 win over the St. Bernard Crusaders of Eureka on Friday night in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,6,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7625"}],"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=7625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7627,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7625\/revisions\/7627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}