MORGAN HILL The Live Oak girls water polo team emerged
victorious while the boys water polo team narrowly lost to the
tough Leland High School Chargers on Saturday in the Blossom Valley
Athletic League Championships held at Live Oak.
MORGAN HILL
The Live Oak girls water polo team emerged victorious while the boys water polo team narrowly lost to the tough Leland High School Chargers on Saturday in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Championships held at Live Oak.
To make it to the championship round, the girls defeated the Pioneer Mustangs, and the boys defeated the Willow Glen Rams on Friday in the first round.
GIRLS
LIVE OAK 11, Pioneer 6
Sarah D’Angelo scored six goals in the Acorns’ 11-6 romp of the Pioneer Mustangs on Friday in the first round of the BVAL Championships.
Katie Rick had two early goals to help set the tone for the Acorns, and Sarah Sendejas and Alisa Pinabarsi each scored an early goal for the Acorns.
D’Angelo scored three of her six goals in the fourth quarter, helping secure the victory and advance the Acorns to the championship game.
The Mustangs did not go out silently, however, keeping the game to within four goals late in the fourth quarter.
Priscilla Orona scored with 2:18 left in the final period to pull the Acorns firmly ahead 10-5.
On the Mustangs ensuing possession, at the 1:50 mark, senior goalie Shelby Carillo made one of many blocks to squelch the Mustangs hopes of a comeback.
After corralling the ball, Carillo threw a long, cross-court pass to D’Angelo who quickly shot and scored the Acorns final goal.
“We want to keep swimming the whole time and never stop moving,” first-year head coach Kevin Paulsen said. “For defense we want to press them out and make it hard for them to pass the ball.”
Paulsen said his team is special because there is no weak link.
“Everyone has their own skill,” he said. “If they don’t swim well, they pass well, and some girls are just tough. D’Angelo can palm the ball and that makes a big difference when they can palm.”
The win advanced the Acorns to Saturday’s championship game against perennial league champion Leland.
LIVE OAK 3, LELAND 2
In a highly contested and increasingly heated battle Live Oak upset Leland 3-2, to capture the 2007 BVAL title.
The win ended the Leland Chargers’ 25-year record of league championships.
The Acorns lost to the Chargers 4-6 in the two teams’ regular season meeting, just two weeks ago on Oct. 26, making Saturday’s win even sweeter.
At the end of the first quarter Carillo blocked a Leland shot on goal and corralled the rebound to keep the game tied at 0-0.
The Chargers took the first lead of the game when Kylie Sarpa scored a goal at the 5:55 mark, but D’Angelo tied the game back up a little over a minute later with a goal of her own.
Carillo showed quickness and agility in the goal for the Acorns blocking numerous Leland shots.
With 1:43 left in the second quarter D’Angelo gave the Acorns their first lead with her second goal of the game, and the Acorns headed into half-time up 2-1.
Both teams traded shots in the third quarter, but Leland’s Tam Nguyen evened the score at 2-2 when found the back of the at the 2:09 mark.
Live Oak forced a shot clock violation with 1:04 left in the quarter, and called a timeout for strategy to wind down the quarter.
The Acorns would not score, however, and the game was tied at 2-2 at the end of three.
An early start penalty on Leland gave Live Oak possession to start the fourth quarter, and a subsequent penalty on the Chargers gave the Acorns a fresh shot clock, but the Acorns could not capitalize.
Leland head coach Eric Rise got a yellow card for arguing with officials at the 5:51 mark as the game continued to heat up.
30 seconds later, Sarah Sendejas scored a long goal to break the tie and give the Acorns all they needed to win the match.
The final five minutes of the game went back and forth, but neither team was able to score another goal, and the Acorns found themselves in unusual territory as league champions.
“We were the underdog the whole time,” Paulsen said.
Paulsen was lost for words for a moment, half shivering after being tossed into the pool by his team and half in awe of what they had accomplished.
“We played our best game to date. It all came together. My goalie is amazing and it was a great effort for everyone, from the bench to the starters,” Paulsen said. “These girls work really hard for this and they deserve it.”
Sendejas, a sophomore, couldn’t stop shaking in the aftermath of the victory.
“This team is pretty amazing because we’re so very young,” Sendejas said. “People expected that we weren’t going to succeed but we stepped it up.”
Carillo, the senior goalie, said she was in the mode all game.
“I wasn’t thinking at all, that’s how intense it was out there,” Carillo said. “This win fulfilled my dream of high school … they’ve been league champs for 25 years … it was dream to be able to beat them.”
Pinabarsi was equally amazed with the upset.
“To be able to beat this team is amazing,” Pinabarsi said. “Our team is about 90 percent defense and 10 percent offense, and we relied on kick-outs for goals.”
BOYS
LIVE OAK 13, Willow Glen 8
Senior Sam Cretcher led all scorers with seven goals in the Acorns first round win over the Willow Glen Rams.
Within the first minute of play sophomore Cody Coleman went on the attack.
Coleman’s first shot attempt was blocked by the Rams goalie, but, beating defenders to the ball, he gathered his own rebound and lofted one over the Rams goalie for the first score of the game.
Shortly thereafter, Cretcher also lofted a shot over the defending goalie, as he was being submerged by a Willow Glen defender.
Cretcher scored three times in the first quarter leading the Rams to an early 5-3 lead.
Junior Patrick Acevedo scored at the 4:55 mark of the second quarter to start an onslaught of Live Oak goals.
Senior Alex Sennart found Cretcher, fighting for position, for the Acorns eighth goal at the 4:20 mark, and a series of events gave the Acorns their ninth score to lead at half-time 9-5.
Acevedo’s shot bounced off the cross bar, but junior Steven Rick sprinted and grabbed the rebound and then passed to freshman Danny Robinson, who faked once and scored his first goal of the tournament.
The Rams almost matched the Acorns offensive output in the second half, scoring three goals to Live Oak’s four, but they would trail for the rest of the game.
Robinson was second high scorer for the Acorns with two goals, and Coleman, Jason Van’troot, and Rick each scored one a piece.
The win advanced the Acorns to Saturday’s championship game against the Leland Chargers.
LELAND 10, LIVE OAK 9
After losing a close 7-6 league match to the Chargers on Oct. 23, the Acorns were determined to pull off an upset in the championship match.
Scoring all nine goals, Cretcher carried the Acorns throughout the game with swift maneuvers and dazzling shots.
Live Oak played without Acevedo who had a family commitment.
Cretcher scored three goals in the first quarter, the last coming with one second left, giving the Acorns a 3-1 lead .
He continued his frenzied scoring pace with a backhanded goal 13 seconds into the second quarter, and notched two more before the end of the half to give Live Oak a 6-5 advantage.
The Chargers kept the match close, tying the score 7-7 at the 4:27 mark of the third, but Cretcher’s eighth goal at the 3:54 mark put the Acorns back on top.
The Chargers evened things up again with 1:20 left in the quarter, and the match went into the final quarter tied 8-8.
Cretcher broke the tie at the 4:37 mark with his ninth and final goal, but the Chargers Marcus Gartner tied it back up at the 2:37 mark .
Robinson took a shot with 1:30 left in the match, but the ball sailed high.
To redeem his miss Robinson made a defensive stop on the other end and got the ball back with a minute to play.
Live Oak head coach Mack Haines called a timeout to prep his team for a final possession, but the Chargers held off the Acorns attempt, got the ball back and called timeout with 18 seconds left in the match.
After the timeout Gartner took the ball inside and scored with seven seconds left to lift the Chargers over the Acorns 10-9.
“We all tried really, really hard, but our outside shots weren’t there,” Cretcher said. “We put forth our best effort and it was a good, close game to go out with.”
Cretcher, who was double teamed the entire game, said it was an important game but he is looking forward to CCS.
“It was a good season, but we still got CCS,” he said.
Rick, a junior, was similarly disappointed with the loss, but proud of his team’s accomplishments.
“When we started the season we didn’t expect anything, butt with Mack’s help we played to our advantages and made it to league championships,” Rick said. “And we gave them a one-point game … we’re not done yet.”
Haines said he didn’t even think of the game as a loss.
“I’m going home tonight thinking this is maybe the best team I’ve ever coached,” Haines said. “Since the beginning of the season we’ve faced adversity, but these guys keep coming through and don’t quit.
These guys carried on an incredible tradition of Live Oak water polo.”
Both Live Oak teams head into the Central Coast Section as the fifth seed in Division two, and play Pioneer at 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Live Oak pool.
