Early season bragging rights belong to St. Bernard’s.
On Friday evening, the Crusaders posted a statement win over a league rival, defeating defending Redwood League champion Ferndale 3-1 in the semifinals of the Upper Lake Tournament.
The win was the fourth in four games this season for a very young SB team that is quickly establishing itself as one of the teams to beat in the H-DNL this fall.
It was also the first loss of the campaign for the Cats, who came into the game with a record of 3-0 having outscored their first three opponents 16-0.
“It was an absolute team effort,” said first-year St. Bernard’s head coach Brandon Amis, who is off to a flying start on the sidelines and has his team poised for a big fall.
Senior team captain CJ Figas enjoyed another good day in the win.
Just two days after the was involved in all three of her team’s goals in a 3-1 win over McKinleyville, Figas scored two second-half goals to help her team take control of the game.
Freshman Kinley Johnson, another player who has hit the ground running this season, gave the Crusaders the lead in the opening half, but the Cats would battle back to tie things up just before halftime and there was nothing to separate the two schools heading into the break.
The second half, however, belonged to the Crusaders.
Figas gave them their second lead of the evening early in the period, off an assist from fellow senior Malia Masayos, and she would secure the victory with a second goal with under 10 minutes remaining.
Another freshman, Presley Sundquist, assisted on the final goal.
It was a statement win over the defending North Coast Section Division-1 champs, but also a gratifying one for a program that lost all five matchups against their league rivals last season, four of them by the narrowest of margins.
“You know, we were waiting for a matchup against Ferndale,” Amis said. “Ferndale’s always tough. They had our number all of last year and they played like league champs, and our team just played a notch better in all aspects (of the game).”
The three SB forwards — Figas, Johnson and Masayos — kept the Ferndale defense on its heels for much of the game and played “lights out,” according to Amis.
“They understand their assignments,” the coach said.
In particular Figas, who has started the season well and is setting the tone for her younger teammates.
“CJ was the player of the match,” Amis said. “She was all over the field.”
Freshman Kate Bailey also impressed for St. Bernard’s, as she has been doing throughout the early season.
“She was all over the middle, creating opportunities, winning 50/50 balls,” Amis said. “She’s kind of the heartbeat of the midfield.”
Goalkeeper Kaitlyn Amis and her defense — Carli Baum, Paula Bullock, Emilyn Wilson and Paloma Granados — also continued to play well and have combined to give up just two goals in their first four games.
“My defense is a unit, and they play really well together and they communicate,” Brandon Amis said.
The Crusaders will try to keep their perfect start to the new season going on Saturday afternoon when they play Clear Lake in the tournament final.
The Clear Lake girls are also off to a flying start this year and are 4-0.
No stats from Friday’s game were immediately available for the Wildcats.
