It was a simple little foray into the Live Oak High boys soccer
team
’s zone, a probe of the Acorns’ defenses midway through the
first half by an opposing player well-marked by a pair of
defenders. But when Alisal’s David Estrada tripped and hit the
ground, an official’s whistle sounded signaling a penalty that
would give the Trojans all the edge they would n
eed in Wednesday night’s Central Coast Section Division I boys
soccer semifinal at Piedmont Hills High. Moments later, Alisal
captain Ramon Hernandez found the net with the resulting penalty
kick that would end up eliminating the Live Oak boys 1-0.
It was a simple little foray into the Live Oak High boys soccer team’s zone, a probe of the Acorns’ defenses midway through the first half by an opposing player well-marked by a pair of defenders.
But when Alisal’s David Estrada tripped and hit the ground, an official’s whistle sounded signaling a penalty that would give the Trojans all the edge they would need in Wednesday night’s Central Coast Section Division I boys soccer semifinal at Piedmont Hills High.
Moments later, Alisal captain Ramon Hernandez found the net with the resulting penalty kick that would end up eliminating the Live Oak boys 1-0.
“It was definitely a dive,” LO coach Tony Goble said. “That’s what (the Trojans) are taught, if you don’t have an angle take a dive. They’re really quick and shifty in there. He kicked himself and went down. It was obvious but he got the call.
“But to win we need to score and we couldn’t do that.”
With the win, No. 7 Alisal advanced to Friday’s CCS D-I final against top seed Watsonville.
LO’s loss ended a fine season for the Acorn boys that included a 17-2-5 record, a league title and a No. 2 ranking in CCS.
But junior defender Nick Mott and his teammates were left thinking about what might have been.
“It was a bad call,” Mott said. “But you can’t dwell on one call. We had so many opportunities.
“We kept at it the whole game. This was one of the best games we played all year.”
Indeed, LO did create its share of scoring chances, although the Trojans did a pretty good job of marking the Acorns’ high-scoring Garrett Frechette.
“We were all over them in the first 10 minutes,” Goble said. “But I think the penalty kick got us rattled for the rest of the first half. We started sending long balls instead of taking our time. Obviously, their defense was very suspect but we didn’t force their defenders or goalkeeper to save a shot.”
LO was hurt offensively by an injury in practice to senior forward Hussein Abdullahi, who didn’t start the match and played relatively sparingly.
Defensively, the Acorns appeared to be back on their heels at times against the Trojans’ speed and ballhandling. But led by Mott, Hassan Abdullahi, Rodney Spencer and goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis held off the Alisal attack for the most part.
“We expected what they were going to throw at us,” Mott said. “I thought (the match) was pretty even.”
