By Paul Marshall San Jose
– The Live Oak girls’ water polo team provided spectators with a
weekend of sparkling play at the first major tournament of the
season hosted by Saint Francis. This annual tournament pits many of
the best teams of Santa Clara County against a host of top-flight
teams from around California, and
is an early-season indicator of who will be the favorites in the
CCS tournament at the end of the season.
By Paul Marshall
San Jose – The Live Oak girls’ water polo team provided spectators with a weekend of sparkling play at the first major tournament of the season hosted by Saint Francis. This annual tournament pits many of the best teams of Santa Clara County against a host of top-flight teams from around California, and is an early-season indicator of who will be the favorites in the CCS tournament at the end of the season. This year’s 16-team tournament included top CCS teams Sacred Heart, Menlo Atherton, Saint Francis, Archbishop Mitty, as well as two top Central Valley teams in Davis and the Rio Americano Raiders.
The Live Oak girls started the weekend with a tough match against the Rio Americano Raiders, a premier team from the Sacramento area seeded third in the tournament. Rio features a fast-swimming group that plays big and physical, with solid talent throughout the roster, and a head coach who is also head coach of USA Water Polo’s 2005 Women’s Youth Training Team. The game was a seesaw struggle for a quarter and a half, but Rio began pulling away by halftime and eventually won 9-5. Co-captain Ronni Gautschi starred for the Acorns, putting through several goals, but the Raiders put the clamps on the rest of the team.
Saturday morning dawned clear and cool for the Acorns, who were scheduled for a 9:15am start against Saint Ignatius of San Francisco. The game opened as a fierce defensive effort and was tied 2-2 at the half. But after the break, the Acorns stormed out and opened up a 4-2 lead on goals from Laura Melroy and Gautschi, and eventually won the game 9-4.
Up next for the Acorns were the Timberwolves from Clovis. This game provided an easy refresher for the girls as the Acorns cruised to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. With the Timberwolves double-teaming Gautschi, the rest of the team played well, and Melroy stepped up for three of her team’s first four goals. Also scoring in the first half were Gautschi with two goals and Laura Shope with another to give the Acorns a 6-1 lead by halftime. In the third quarter, coach Hyrne began resting most of her starters. Substitute Katie Robinson came in and added another two goals for the Acorns. The final score was 11-6.
The climax of the tournament for Live Oak, though, was the game against Presentation for first place in their half of the tournament bracket, 9th place overall. Presentation came into the game having lost only once in the tournament, to eventual second-place finisher Davis. Time and again during the first quarter goalie and co-captain Chelsea Carillo rose to stop a Presentation challenge, batting away shot after shot. Gautschi powered the team to a 2-0 lead with a quick backhand hole-set goal and a 4-meter penalty shot. Presentation picked up a goal of its own and then began sagging their defense towards Gautschi, leaving Amy Marshall out front with loose coverage. After another Rio goal the Acorns answered when Gautschi skipped the ball off the water into the left lower corner untouched by the goalie and nearest defender, bringing Live Oak’s lead to 4-2. Presentation forced a turnover and raced toward the Live Oak goal, getting an open shot and goal from about 6 meters from the right side, cutting the Live Oak advantage to 4-3, and that was the score at the half.
In the third period Presentation fought back to tie the game at 4-4 and threatened to take the lead when they earned a 4-meter penalty shot. Goalie Chelsea Carillo rose to the challenge yet again though, making a huge save, and kept the score tied at 4-4.
In the fourth quarter, Live Oak’s Shope found herself loosely guarded 7 meters out on the left side. She launched a speeding shot towards the goal and just put it by the goalie, putting Live Oak up 5-4. In less than a minute though, Presentation scored again, tying the score at 5-5. Thirty seconds later Live Oak got the ball back and had Gautschi and Melroy racing down the pool ahead of all the other swimmers. A perfect outlet pass to Gautschi got the rush started, with Gautschi swimming down the left side, and Melroy swimming just a little faster down the right. Gautschi attracted two closing defenders, then tossed a perfect pass to a wide-open Melroy on the other side as she neared the goal. In one smooth motion, Melroy gathered the ball and fired it off, putting the game-winner just inside the right post with 2:55 left in the game. With the 6-5 win, the Live Oak girls earned 9th place overall out of the 16 teams entered.
In the championship game, Rio Americano and Davis did battle, with the Rio Americano Raiders emerging victorious with an 11-9 win for the title.
Live Oak is undefeated in league play with victories over Carmel and Salinas, and is 9-1 overall this season.
Here’s how other Morgan Hill teams fared in high school sports over the past week:
BOYS’ WATER POLO
The Live Oak boys’ water polo team went 2-2 in the Scott Roche Tournament this past weekend.
“As a team, we are playing great defense,” said coach Mack Haines. “We are putting an incredible amount of energy into playing a real tight pressing defense. And so far it has paid off.”
Justin Short led the Acorns with 13 goals in the tournament.
“He continues to have hot streaks, rattling off a number of goals in a row,” Haines said.
The coach said he was really impressed with the way several of his players stepped up, but said he is looking for even more from an improving bench.
Bryson Bailey had nine goals in the tournament and played well on both offense and defense, Haines said. And Kyle Fast and Cameron Peachey had two goals apiece.
Although Sam Cretcher, a sophomore, had just one goal in the tournament, it was a big one, helping Live Oak win 4-3 in the opening game Friday against Gunn. Haines said he was impressed by how Cretcher stepped up his level of play against Gunn, which could be one of the Acorns’ top opponents if they are placed in Division I of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Goalie Shea Coleman, coming off an injury, also played well, Haines said.
Live Oak (8-3) lost its second game 7-4 against St. Francis. On Saturday, the Acorns lost to Sacred Heart 9-7 and then defeated Palo Alto 12-6. Two of Live Oak’s three losses this season have come from teams in the West Catholic Athletic League. The only other loss was against Miramonte of Orinda.
Live Oak will be playing against Salinas today at Hartnell College in Salinas in a matchup that could determine the league title.
“I know they are vastly improved,” Haines said said of the Cowboys. “I expect it to be a real good game.”
– By Nathan Mixter, Staff Writer
CROSS COUNTRY
The Live Oak boys’ cross country team finished 10th in the Chieftain Invitational Saturday at Toro Park in Salinas, and the girls finished eighth. Highlights:
Boys’ Varsity: Senior Andrew Taylor came in 49th (18:05.6), senior Kenny Benner came in 51st (18:10.7), senior Justin Miyakusu came in 53rd (18:15.8), senior Nolan ZandI came in 54th (18:18.5), and senior Armando Medina rounded out the scoring with a time of 18:40.6 to place 60th. The non-scoring runners were freshman Peter Sarllo in 67th (19:12.2), and senior Brent Hatakeyama in 71st (19:20.4).
Girls’ Varsity: Senior Cobbie Jones finished in sixth place with a time of 19:20. Senior Lisa Herrera finished 11th (20:12), freshman Olivia Duran finished 22nd (21:12), junior Joelle Jenkins finished 92nd (27:47), and senior Jenai Burdick finished 93rd (28:42).
Boys’ JV: Senior Joel Seibert placed 28th (19:47), freshman Anthony Macadaeg placed 30th (19:58), freshman Armando Rodriguez finished 51st (21:52), senior Chris Quezada finished 54th (22:24), freshman Chiraag Vyas finished 65th (26:03), and freshman Jimmy Shedden finished right behind him at 26:04.
Girls’ JV: Freshman Vanessa Santoya came in 78th (28:06), senior Kathryn Chancey finished 88th (28:56), freshman Noor Khuzaie finished 94th (29:42), and senior Sara Long finished 125th (33:01).
