Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Thursday’s game between the Crusaders and Del Norte Warriors at St. Bernard’s.

By Ray Hamill — If Thursday’s non-conference soccer game between the Del Norte and St. Bernard’s girls is any indication, it should be a competitive race once again for this year’s Little 4 championship.

The two conference rivals faced off at Crusader Field in Eureka in pool play of the Clear Lake tournament and shared the spoils, 1-1.

The tie follows victories over Fortuna earlier in the week for both schools and leaves each well positioned to advance to the latter stages of the tournament next week.

Both teams appear to have hit the ground running this fall.

Malia Masayos continued her impressive start to the new season with a timely strike 10 minutes from time to help the Crusaders salvage the tie after what was a good second half for the hosts.

“It was a hard-fought game,” SB head coach Jeff Sellars said. “I thought we lacked a it of energy in the first half but picked it up in the second.”

Lillie Franklin netted in the opening half for the Warriors, who are the defending L4 champs and looked well equipped to defend their title this year.

After carrying a sender lead into the second half, the Warriors soaked up a lot of pressure over the final 40 minutes and tried to catch the home team off guard with their quick counter attacks.

But a young new-look Del Norte defense that features three new starting sophomores is quickly establishing itself as a cohesive and well-organized unit.

Senior Teexeeshe Scott is back to help anchor the defense and played a key role in Thursday’s game.

But they wrestle challenged.

“It feels like that’s a different St. Bernard’s team than last year,” Del; Norte head coach Shawn Eckart said. “They’re a tough team.”

It was also an SB team that grew into the game after a slow start and one that showed a lot of composure to net the late equalizer.

“At times we looked very discombobulated. I think this was mainly due to having people out of position,” Sellars added. “It took us a bit to settle and get into the game. We had good moments but we couldn’t sustain those moments.

“Despite that the girls worked through in the second half to get a goal and continue to put pressure on the opponent.”

Earlier in the week, the St. Bernard’s girls defeated Fortuna 3-0 in their tournament and season opener, while Del Norte also got the better of Fortuna by a score of 1-0.

Elisabeth Lopez scored the Warriors’ only goal of that game to help her team get off to a fast start to the new campaign.

The breakthrough conference championship last year — which was the program’s first-ever — appears to have instilled more purpose and confidence in the Del Norte players this fall, and it’s something the coach has noticed early on.

“They’re hungry,” Eckart said. “But it’s a different kind of hunger this year. They can see it and they want it.”