Morgan Hill – Playing with only 11 girls and without any
substitutes, the Live Oak girls field hockey team hustled to defeat
Prospect High School on Monday.
Morgan Hill – Playing with only 11 girls and without any substitutes, the Live Oak girls field hockey team hustled to defeat Prospect High School on Monday.
Senior Lexy Nuno scored an unassisted goal early in the first half, and that was all the scoring the Acorns needed to down the Pirates 1-0 at home.
Live Oak and Prospect both had opportunities on short-corner attempts and other drives but neither team scored again, and the Acorn defense continually cleared and controlled the ball.
“We had a few illnesses going around, and I had to use timeouts to give players a rest and get water,” head coach Gina Sanders said. “It hurt that we didn’t have subs.”
Sanders said she told her team that when they don’t have substitutes, the best offense is to score early and often so that they could implement different, more defensive formations.
“We scored early but not often, so we didn’t really do as planned,” she said.
Sanders continues pulling double duty as head coach of both the varsity and JV units, forcing her to delicately balance her time.
“I don’t have any time to talk to my (varsity) players after their game because I have to turnaround and prep the JV for theirs,” she said. “But coaching gives me an adrenaline rush, and I’m very much into the game.”
Sanders, who was a Live Oak and University of Massachusetts standout field hockey player, is embracing her role as head coach of both teams, and views her unique position as an opportunity to help build the program.
“It’s much more of a closer dynamic with the players for me, and it helps when they see that I’ve gone on, came back, and want to help them to have a great experience at Live oak like I did,” Sanders said. “It’s hard work, but I love it … I’m a lot more focused and down to business, but the girls are amazing and they know that I’m trying to bring a focus on field hockey to the area.”
At practice Sanders doesn’t always have the ability to coach players one-on-one, and said she is impressed with the effort her girls are giving.
“They’ve realized that practices are even more important than ever, and they’re doing really well and having fun,” Sanders said.
Monday’s victory brings the Acorns record to 6-3 and puts them into second place behind Lynbrook High School in the Mount Hamilton division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
Live Oak beat Lynbrook at home on Oct. 3, but will travel to Lynbrook on Oct. 26 to go for the season sweep.
This could be difficult as three of the Acorns’ last five games are away from home, and all of their losses this year have come on the road.
Still, Sanders is confident in her team’s abilities, and hopes that another team can step up and hand Lynbrook a loss.
“It would be awesome if someone else could knock down Lynbrook,” Sanders said. “It’d be nice to get that first round bye (in the Central Coast Section), but we have to win out for that to happen.”
The Acorns play and practice on a natural grass field at Live Oak and only one of their three final away games is on turf, which Sanders said is even better for their chances of winning out.
Live Oak plays Cupertino High School today at 2:45pm, at Cupertino, 10100 Finch Ave., and Sanders said she is considering bringing players up from JV in preparation of their playoff run.
