The Yosemite High School boys soccer team battled the cold and high winds in the Valley Dec. 19, coming away with a satisfying 1-0 overtime win over Fresno's Hoover High.

The Badgers scored first on a Alex Mello corner kick that made it passed Hoover's goal keeper for the score.

At half time the score was 1-0 Badgers who played the first half with the wind to its back. Shortly into the second half, Hoover scored a goal to tie the game at 1-1.

Then Mello got an open shot with an assist from Tyler McIntyre, drilling a line-drive into Hoover's net to put Yosemite ahead 2-1. Midway through the second half, Hoover scored on a "wind-aided" corner kick to tie the game at 2-2 at the end of regulation play.

It was with about two minutes left in the second 10-minute overtime period that the Badgers won the game on a flurry of shots. The first shot at the net was from a long distance and the ball bounced off Hoover's goal keeper -- then Dylan Taylor took a second shot that was blocked by the goal keeper, but the ball rebounded to Martin Kovacic who put the ball in the net for the 3-2 win.

"It was a good victory for us," said coach Rick Lemberg. "We were playing the game without four of our players. Three had to take finals and one was injured. Several of our players had to play out of position because they were filling in for the missing players. The whole team played well."

The team opens North Sequoia League play Tuesday, Jan 8 at home against Chowchilla. Kerman will visit Yosemite on Thursday, Jan. 10. Varsity games are at 6:30, JV 5 p.m.