Live Oak fights off early offensive burst by Gilroy; makes the
most of scoring opportunities
Morgan Hill – The Live Oak Acorns boys soccer team faced off against archrival Gilroy on Thursday evening and used their tough defensive play to frustrate and take the Mustangs out of their rhythm for a 3-1 victory.
“It was a good win for us,” said senior mid-fielder Anthony Avalos, who has verbally committed to attend and play at UC Berkeley next year. “We had some good offensive breaks and Garrett Frechette played well being marked. It sets us up good for league.”
Live Oak’s Frechette has had to deal with double- and triple-teams this season and manages to find the open player or open net for scores. He had two of the Acorns’ goals against Gilroy.
Early in the first half the ‘Stangs offense put pressure on the Acorns’ defense with crisp passing and good communication, but couldn’t create any open scoring opportunities.
“They (Gilroy) play high pace at the beginning and we knew that we had to weather that,” said Live Oak coach Tony Goble. “As soon as we starting opening up the field and spreading out our offensive scheme, we had some good looks.”
Both teams played hard and physical in the match with the referee handing out four yellow cards in the first half. The ‘Stangs sophomore defender Kevin Grove, who was assigned to cover Live Oak’s star forward Frechette, came out of the game in the first half with a gash over his eye.
With Grove out of the game, Frechette scored for the Acorns on a break away to give Live Oak the 1-0 lead.
“Kevin was injured off the ball and I’m not really sure exactly how it happened, but as soon as he came out, they (Live Oak) scored,” said Gilroy coach Brian Hall.
Just about nine minutes later, the Acorns struck again off an indirect kick from Avalos that ‘Stangs goalkeeper Randy Moya couldn’t gain control of and crept past the goal line.
“That was an early Christmas present,” said Hall. “From there we dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
Trailing 2-0, Gilroy’s offense came out in the second half determined to score, which appeared to take them out of their game plan. Live Oak’s offense capitalized on the ‘Stangs frustration, as Frechette drilled a pass from Avalos into an empty Gilroy net for a 3-0 lead.
“We knew it would be two good teams facing each other,” said Live Oak’s Goble. “As a team we defend pretty well and our defense is starting to come together. We’ve played with a different defensive lineup almost every game.”
Freshman forward Jason Olivo scored the only goal for Gilroy in the waning minutes of the second half. Live Oak’s goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis came out to defend a shot and was taken down, leaving an open goal as Olivo followed up the shot and put it into the right corner of the net, 3-1.
“Overall we were satisfied,” said Goble. “It’s always a war and great game between Live Oak and Gilroy.”
The Acorns return to action against San Benito on January 10, following winter break.
