UPPER LAKE — Karlee Zimmerschied unleashed a four-goal barrage on Roseland Collegiate Prep as the third-seeded Upper Lake Cougars cruised to a 5-0 victory in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 3 girls soccer playoffs on Wednesday night at Upper Lake High School.
Upper Lake (11-8-1) advances to the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 2 seed St. Bernard at St. Bernard Academy in Eureka. It will be the second meeting this season between the two teams, who squared off in late August in Upper Lake during the season-opening Tyler Duncan Memorial Tournament. The Crusaders won 3-1 although the Cougars lost two of their top players — Zimmerschied and Tristin Rhodes to injuries.
“They played only about half the game,” Upper Lake head coach Daniella Santana said. “I think we’re ready for them.”
The Upper Lake-St. Bernard winner draws the winner of the other semifinal between No. 1 seed Technology and No. 4 Calistoga next Wednesday in the championship game at a site and time to be determined.
Santana said the Cougars’ effort against No. 6 seed Roseland Collegiate Prep was definitely playoff caliber.
“They looked really good,” Santana said of her players. “We didn’t have the mistakes on defense like we usually have and we did a good job clearing the ball.”
Upper Lake’s defense so dominated Roseland Collegiate Prep that the Grizzlies had a grand total of five shots on goal, all of them easily stopped by keeper Taylor Minnis, who had a lot of free time on her hands as most of the action was confined to the other side of the field.
Vanessa Lopez-Beccera had the other Upper Lake goal. Assists went to Paige Pruett, who had a pair, Kathleen Lopez-Geary, Tatum Salas and Maddy Young.
Upper Lake led 3-0 at halftime.
Standouts for the Cougars included Salas at midfielder and Atlantis Jones and Hailey Reams on defense.
“She was awesome,” Santana said of Salas. “Atlantis and Hailey did a nice job getting the ball from the defense to the forwards and getting into the attack.”
Upper Lake also blanked Roseland Collegiate Prep 4-0 back on Sept. 6 in Upper Lake.
In other girls soccer playoff action Wednesday:
St. Helena 5, Clear Lake 4 (shootout)
At St. Helena, tied 4-4 at the end of regulation and through two 10-minute overtime periods, the collective fate of the St. Helena Saints and Clear Lake Cardinals came down to a shootout that the host Saints won 6-5.
“No moral victories, but if I have to lose this is the way I want to lose,” Clear Lake coach Derick Fiske said of great performances by both of these North Central League I teams. “The atmosphere was amazing, the crowd was into it. Both teams played their hearts out.”
Locked in a goal-for-goal battle during the shootout, a final shot by Clear Lake’s Riana Kniss appeared headed into the net when St. Helena’s keeper got just enough of the ball to deflect it off course.
“They actually took their best athlete and moved her to keeper for the shootout,” Fiske said. “Riana made what looked like a perfect shot. The keeper chose the right direction, made a fully extended dive and got her hand on it (the ball), and it rolled out.”
Clear Lake dropped both of its league meetings with St. Helena this season, most recently a 2-1 loss to end the regular season last week in Lakeport. Fiske and the Cardinals were hoping that a third shot at the Saints might produce the desired win, which is what happened for Lower Lake a year ago when the Trojans dropped both league games to the Saints but ended up beating them 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
“We came so close,” Fiske said.
St. Helena jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half of regulation play before goals by seniors Lexi Tejada and Mavis Pyorre tied the game.
“We could have given up right there but we kept our heads in it and fought back,” Fiske said.
St. Helena pushed in front 3-2 in the second half before a second Pyorre goal tied it at 3. The Cardinals then went up 4-3 on a Mikayla Fifield goal. That lead stood up until the Saints scored with a little more than a minute left.
“We were within one minute of being on the other side of it and headed to Fortuna (Friday for the quarterfinals),” Fiske said.
Neither team could score in either of the two 10-minute overtime periods, forcing a shootout.
“There were some great shots and some great saves,” Fiske said.
Clear Lake closes out a bounceback 2019 season at 12-9. Fiske said the team’s underclassmen will soon be busy preparing for the 2020 season.
As for the team’s seniors, including Tejada and Pyorre, Fiske, the first-year coach of the Cardinals, said he’s sorry to lose them but better off for the experience of having coached them, even if it was for only one season.
“Mavis’ hard work in the offseason and her dedication made this possible,” Fiske said of Clear Lake’s entry into the postseason this year after a brutal 1-18 campaign in 2018.
