All Live Oak needed was a little motivation.
Knotted at zero against Leland, coach Gina Sanders made a promise her girls couldn’t refuse: Chipotle to a person who scored a goal.
The result was two goals to down Leland 2-0 for Live Oak’s second win of the BVAL season.
Taylor Dempsey and Giovanna Cimino found the back of the cage to claim the prize.
“I think just coming in (during a timeout) motivated us, just to take a breath. But we love food. Food motivates us,” Dempsey said, who said she’s getting a chicken burrito when her coach makes good on the promise.
Dempsey’s goal came in the 14th minute of the second half off a feed into the circle that she launched into the cage.
After the goal, Sanders shouted to her team wondering who would be Dempsey’s lunch date.
That’s when Cimino stepped forward 10 minutes later launching a strong shot from the top of the circle that deflected off a Leland player.
The ball shot up and cleared the defense and went into the back of the net.
The goals were the reward for a first half of solid play that kept Leland on defense and minimizing the Chargers’ opportunities in the Live Oak zone.
“I feel like we’re more of a second half team because we come in and we talk about it and think about what we’re doing wrong,” Dempsey said. “We just come in, change that, and come out to play.”
Sanders was happy with the all around effort, because, she said, the win shows the girls they have the ability to compete against anyone.
“It was just showing we can have some confidence in our skill and confidence that we are a good team. We can compete and we can do good things,” Sanders said. “…Today was a good day for them.”
Both sides were feeling a little anxiety as the referees were letting the girls play and didn’t call many fouls.
Sanders said she kept reminding her girls that they can’t control what the refs call or don’t call, but to keep playing hard regardless.
“If you’re going for the obstruction and they’re not calling it, stop going for the obstruction and go to space and go somewhere else,” Sanders said.
Live Oak nearly had to play from behind in the first half when a shot in front of the Acorns’ net got deflected past the goaltender, who came out to play the ball.
Money Percun chased down the ball and prevented it from crossing the line, something the Leland players claimed on their bench didn’t happen.
“Ball ricocheted off Money’s stick and went toward the goal line. She just kept at it and really reached,” Sanders said. “She didn’t give up on the ball. If she had given up, they probably would have had the lead.”
Live Oak will have two tough road tests next week, taking on Gilroy Wednesday and Mitty Friday.
But the girls are holding tight to the fact they played well against St. Francis, despite a loss, and it carried over to Leland.
“It shows us that we can play as well as we did against St. Francis, a team that is very good,” Dempsey said. “So when we play teams that aren’t as good, we know we can play amazing,” Dempsey said.
