Willow Glen overcomes two-goal deficit to steal league title
from Acorns
MORGAN HILL — Soaked and smiling, the Willow Glen girl’s soccer players left the drizzly Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Center looking like wet bandits let off the hook.
Their plunder: the Blossom Valley Athletic League-Santa Teresa Division championship, an elusive accolade Live Oak was two minutes from wielding Friday.
The Lady Acorns built a commanding two-goal margin that vaporized late in the second half. Willow Glen put three goals across in the final 14 minutes, including Danielle Yaconelli’s game-winner in stoppage time, to snatch the Santa Teresa title with a dramatic 3-2 victory.
The Rams (16-1-2 overall, 11-0-2 BVAL) also clinched the league’s lone automatic berth into the CIF-Central Coast Section playoffs.
“I’d say we have a lot of character. We have great senior leadership,” Willow Glen coach Mitch Method said. “Those girls pulled together, and things went our way at the end. We’ve always played well in the second. We got behind and they answered.”
Live Oak is not guaranteed a postseason spot, but remains an attractive at-large candidate at 14-2-1 overall and 10-2-1 in league with one match remaining.
Nothing is certain, though, especially in the unforgiving Santa Teresa. Last year, the division’s top three finishers — Sobrato, Live Oak, Silver Creek — were separated by mere percentage points. Only Sobrato, the champion, advanced.
Even in defeat, the Acorns felt like they bolstered their legitimacy.
“We’re not guaranteed in CCS, but we have a good chance of making it,” Live Oak coach Tony Vasquez said. “Hopefully, we do because these girls deserve it. We only have two losses. Hopefully, we still get in.”
Following a defensive stalemate that consumed the opening half, the Acorns put the division front-runners on their heels. Live Oak midfielder Amanda Morgan capitalized on a hand-ball call deep in Rams territory when she buried the ensuing penalty kick in the 53rd minute. Fabiola Diaz, the Acorns’ leading goal-scorer, pushed her team ahead in the 65th minute, working a crisp outlet pass from freshman Megan Rauschnot.
“I think we kind of got a little overconfident, and they kept going at it,” said Morgan, who totaled five goals in the past three games. “They wanted to win, too.”
A minute later, Stephanie Owens scored the first of Willow Glen’s two goals off rebound shots, and the Rams never lost momentum.
“They got a lot of heart,” Vasquez said of Willow Glen. “They didn’t give up, and you’ve got to give them a lot of credit because I thought we played well until the last 15 minutes. But it is what it is.”
The Rams pulled even on a superbly placed shot by Kayla Villapando, who, from 22 yards out, tucked the ball between the crossbar and goalkeeper Gladis Covarrubias in the 78th minute.
“They wanted it — not that Live Oak didn’t,” said Method, whose team held a 15-8 edge in shots. “Live Oak’s a good team. They played a great game, and hats off to them. Our girls feel like they’ve got something special going and they don’t want to be denied.”
Kristen Edmunds took a shot that Covarrubias dove to save — but the ball deflected to the open side of the net, and Yaconelli buried it. The final whistle sounded less than a minute later.
“I thought we were playing really well. And then they pressed and a couple mistakes happened,” Vasquez said. “They got some momentum and changed the game definitely.”
The Acorns nearly scored in the first half off Morgan’s corner kick in the 31st minute. Moving up from the backline, Julia Hartl took a header that missed high.
“We’re pretty surprised. We were hoping for a win, but we didn’t get it,” Morgan said. “So we’re trying to keep our heads up and finish the season strong.”
Live Oak, which dropped into second place, will host its final regular-season match Tuesday against Prospect.
