MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown High School’s girls soccer team has been consistently very good for several years, and this year they’ve risen to the nearly perfect.
With North Coast Section playoff wins in Middletown this week by scores of 5-0 over Saint Helena and 3-1 over Cloverdale, their record stands at 20 wins, no losses and one tie.
Their next and final test is the North Coast Section Division III Championship game against Sonoma Academy this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport.
Last year’s team lost a heartbreaking 1-0 double overtime game to Saint Helena in the semifinals of this tournament.
But this past Wednesday night, they cleared that hurdle with their convincing 3-1 win over Cloverdale.
After that semifinal victory, coach Lee Hoage commented: “We started off a little slow, but we persisted. They have that sweeper that plays way back … so the idea was to stretch the ball wide, kind of move the defense around and then send some crosses in … we got our first goal coming in from the side there.”
That first goal was scored by freshman Ashlyn Welton 30 minutes into the first half.
“It was a deflection off Kaleigh’s (Alves) head and I was there for the finish,” she explained. “We just all wanted to do it, to let everyone know Middletown sports is more than football.”
That first goal looked like it might be the only one of the game until a flurry of action in the game’s last ten minutes made the final 3-1.
First, senior Kelly Wilkinson scored on a breakaway to put Middleton ahead 2-0, then Madison Stewart slipped a penalty kick past Middletown junior goalkeep Cheyenne Emerson to give Cloverdale hope at 2-1, and finally Hannah Diaz was able to drive a 40-yard direct kick past Cloverdale keeper Bailey Creager, making the score 3-1.
Asked how his team was able to hold Cloverdale scoreless for the games first 75 minutes, coach Hoage said, “We just knew a couple of their key players, 24 (Madison Stewart), and number 9 (Perla Anguiano). We had some of our fastest players on her (Stewart) in the second half just to try to keep her from putting the ball in.”
Middletown defeated their rival for the championship, Sonoma Academy, 6-1 back in September.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s rematch, coach Hoage said: “They’ll be disciplined. It’s going to be a different contest than the first match, that’s for sure. That was early ... It’s going to be a battle.”
Cloverdale coach Steve Stewart was gracious after his team’s defeat.
“Middletown’s a championship team and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Stewart said. “They had a breakaway and they scored; we had a breakaway and their goalie stops it. We gave it all we had and they were just the better team today, so, I’m rootin’ for them.”