Live Oak’s early successes leave coach Mike Kiefer pinching himself.
They come from a team with few seniors and the biggest leaders are still sophomores.
Amy Gunther and Fayth Lyon have carved a place for themselves at Live Oak, supplementing the efforts of senior captains Hanna Doting, Emily Conlan and Jocelyn Mendoza.
“They don’t play like sophomores,” Kiefer said. “Every now and then they make a mistake and I have to remind myself they are still sophomores.
“They may not be designated captains, but those two are leaders on the team.”
Kiefer was the junior varsity field hockey coach and two of his three seniors played on varsity this fall.
As a result, it was up to the sophomores to help run weight lifting and some preseason workouts.
“Often times the girls got started with conditioning before I got there,” Kiefer said. “They would stop by my class and pick up the schedule for the day. It’s a testiment to their growth over their playing career and their development as leaders.”
The team lost just one senior from last year, which the Acorns hope to be a boon.
Live Oak finished a respectable 16-9 last year and 10-4 in the West Valley League.
This year the Acorns are in the Santa Teresa Division, which means tougher opponents come league play.
Heading into Dec. 20, Live Oak was the front runner among league opponents in the non-BVAL season.
But it already lost to BVAL counterpart Willow Glen, who fell just short of a league title last year.
Santa Teresa winner Evergreen Valley was bumped to the A League for this season.
Gunther and Lyon will look to boost the offense, which is supplemented by the hard playing Mendoza.
Mendoza also leads in rebounding in the early going, followed by Ilisapeti Saulala.
Live Oak jumped out early with a route of San Lorenzo Valley, before losing to Willow Glen by seven.
Since then, Live Oak rattled off four wins, including the classic against crosstown rival Sobrato, 48-45.
Live Oak averaged 46 points per game through the first six games.
But Kiefer acknowledged the road is getting tougher ahead of league.
Live Oak took on 6-1 Santa Clara on Dec. 20 and followed that with Kennedy Dec. 21, who is trying to rebound from a tough season last year. Scores were not immediately available by presstime.
The Acorns hosted Overfelt Thursday and will travel to Carlmont for a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday. That will be the last game for a week until league starts against Leland at home 7 p.m. Jan. 7.
