The St. Bernard’s girls continued to roll with their sixth win of the season on Tuesday, knocking off a third Pacific League team (formerly Big 5), while the Fortuna boys got their league campaign off to a winning start.
The Crusaders made the short trip to Arcata and opened up a three-goal lead on the way to a 3-2 win.
The Huskies avenged an earlier loss to Panthers with a hard-fought 1-0 win at McKinleyville High, handing the home team its first loss of the season.
“Good match tonight from both sides,” Fortuna head coach Daniel Holmes said. “McKinleyville is playing good ball and it was a huge challenge for us tonight.”
Daniel Olea scored the only goal of the game late in the second half on a long-range strike from outside the box.
And that was enough for a Fortuna defense that is finding its groove after a disappointing start to the season.
The Huskies opened the new campaign with a 5-2 loss to McKinleyville, but have won four straight games since then while giving up just goal in that run.
“We made some adjustments from the first time we played them and it worked this time,” Holmes said.
The Panthers came into the game unbeaten after four straight wins to open the season, including a first-ever Upper Lake Tournament championship.
But they were unable to match the Huskies’ intensity early in the game as a determined Fortuna team came out ready to play.
“I thought we came out flat,” McKinleyville head coach Brady Burtchett said. “We kind of took a step back, and that’s on me, but we’ve got to make sure we match their intensity.”
Sophomore Tyson Marshall was a bright spot for the Panthers, stepping into a new role and impressing there.
The Mack fullback switched to center back when senior team captain Ayden Burtchett was forced to the sideline with an injury in the opening half.
Fortunately for the McKinleyville, Ayden Burtchett is not expected to be sidelined for long.
At Arcata, meanwhile, the St. Bernard’s girls continued to roll, with senior team captain and last week’s Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week CJ Figas continued to play a key role.
The in-form striker is enjoying a very impressive start to the new campaign and was involved in all three of her team’s goals, scoring two and assisting on the other.
Figas netted the opener off an assist from teammate and fellow senior Malia Masayos, who also has impressed early in the season, and the Crusaders led by one at the break.
They would add to their tally with two more goals in the second half to stretch the lead to three.
Paloma Granados netted off an assist from Figas to make it 2-0, before Figas scored a second time from a corner kick.
The Tigers, to their credit, continued to battle and scored two late goals to make for an interesting finish, but the visitors were able to hold on down the stretch.
“I thought we played better than the score sounds,” St. Bernard’s head coach Brandon Amis said. “I thought we played a pretty solid game.
“Arcata’s fast and they have so much talent on that team, and they took advantage of some spots where we were out of position.”
Remarkably, SB sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlyn Amis saved another penalty after stopping three of them in a penalty shootout against Clear Lake in the final of the Upper Lake Tournament on Saturday.
The young net minder has yet to give up a penalty in her high school career.
“We kept our composure and stayed in the game,” Brandon Amis added.
The SB center backs, Paula Bullock and Carli Baum, enjoyed another strong outing playing alongside each other, creating opportunities for their teammates and recovering well on defense.
That allowed the team’s fullbacks, Emilyn Wilson and Granados to get up the field and create problems for the home team.
Freshman Kinley Johnson also impressed for the Crusaders and had three shots on target.
No stats were immediately available for Arcata.
