Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday afternoon’s game between Eureka and Upper Lake.
By Ray Hamill — The Eureka girls comfortably took care of business in their Division-1 North Coast Section fall soccer playoff opener with a 7-0 win over Upper Lake on Friday afternoon.
Playing at Washington Elementary School in Eureka, the top seeds in the bracket never looked in danger of losing to the No. 9 Cougars and scored three first-half goals to quickly end the game as a contest, before adding four more after the break.
Senior Lorena Hernandez scored a hat trick to lead the Eureka attack with four of her teammates also finding the back of the net.
“I thought we came out with a good amount of intensity,” Eureka head coach Melania Valdez said. “In the first half we were really just getting our bearing and in the second half we really killed it. We had fantastic touches and were finding feet.”
The win keeps the drive for five well and truly alive.
The Loggers have won four of the past five NCS championships, including three straight, and they are now just two wins from clinching a fifth all-time section title in the sport.
“I’m really proud of the girls, and I’m excited for what they’re going to continue to put out through the playoffs,” Valdez said. “They worked really hard today.”
Hernandez wasn’t the only Eureka player to have a memorable day.
Junior Kaylee Hill netted her first-ever high school goal in the victory after moving into attack to replace an injured teammate.
Freshman Kyla Benzinger, who is enjoying an impressive debut high school campaign, scored her first playoff goal, as did fellow freshman Natalie Wylie.
The always dangerous Angelina Conant also scored in the win and turned in another commanding performance in the middle fo the field.
Check out some of the second-half highlights below …
Conant epitomized a composed team performance for a Eureka team that appears to be peaking at the right time.
“I was really proud of my girls for the composure they showed on the field,” Valdez added. “We really held it together.”
The win sets up a semifinal game against either No. 4 Arcata or No. 5 Willits, who will face off in their quarterfinal at Arcata High on Saturday afternoon.
The semifinal will take place at Washington Elementary School on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
In other NCS soccer games on Friday, St. Bernard’s won 4-2 at Technology to advance to their sixth straight section championship showdown, while South Fork fell 2-1 at Mendocino.
The Del Norte boys also played on Friday and fell 4-3 at International.
The Del Norte girls play on Friday night, while the Fortuna girls, who placed second to Eureka in this year’s Big 4, will host Clear Lake on Saturday evening.
