Also, Flores keys LO golf win; Bulldogs beat Acorns in girls
tennis; LO water polo teams notch impressive wins
MORGAN HILL — Getting a 1-on-1 shot with the goalie in a close game is a spotlight opportunity every field hockey player dreams about.
Ariana Guerrero literally does. Every so often, visions of that precious moment dance in the Live Oak senior’s head when she’s getting her beauty sleep.
“I’ve had dreams about field hockey and just getting the ball with the goalie in front of me,” she says. “I get there sometimes in a game and I mess it up.”
Guerrero didn’t mess anything up Tuesday. The powerful forward played the ball off a 16-yard hit in the fifth minute, weaved through two defenders and smacked home the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Leland at Live Oak High School.
She let out a scream as her Acorn teammates raced after her to celebrate.
“That was huge,” Live Oak coach Gina Sanders said. “It’s important to get a goal like that against an ‘A’-league team like Leland because you don’t want to play defense the whole time and have to come back at the end.”
Call it an especial dream come true for Guerrero, who had two goals disallowed during Friday’s scoreless draw with rival Sobrato.
“That was really frustrating for me,” she said. “We were just stressed out, and we let the rivalry get into our heads. And there was so much drama with what girls were saying on the field. We couldn’t let that go.
“It feels good to come back this way.”
The Lady Acorns (2-2-1) will need more coming-of-age efforts this year as they try to make the postseason for the first time under their third-year coach. With Tuesday’s win, they moved to 1-1 against ‘A’ teams; their one loss came in overtime versus Los Altos.
Live Oak will visit Archbishop Mitty on Thursday before opening Santa Teresa Division play at home against Willow Glen.
“We’re back with our heads up and ready to start the season,” Guerrero said.
There are two components to every 1-0 game: a big goal and even bigger goalkeeping. The latter was provided by Live Oak’s Margaret Tanner. The senior blocked 15 shots, including a kick save and four other stops in the final 15 minutes, to preserve her second straight shutout. Tanner has three this year.
“She’s basically the base of our defense; she’s in on everything,” sophomore defender Kirsten Doting said. “Margaret’s always this good. We can always count on her back there.”
Against the first-rate Chargers (0-2), Sanders knew her goalie and defense were in for a long afternoon. Leland outshot the Acorns 21-7 and drew 12 short corners to Live Oak’s two. The Chargers were awarded four short corners in the final five minutes.
Their last gasp came after a short corner in the 58th minute, when Priya Patel unloaded from less than 10 yards out, and Becca Olson followed with a rebound shot. Leland drew another short corner, and Shaz Moghadam fired a close-range shot through traffic that Tanner deflected with her right-leg pad.
“She made some big saves today,” Sanders said. “Our defense was huge, too. They made some mistakes, but the only hard thing about being a defender is: When they make a mistake, it’s a short corner. … They stepped up under a lot of pressure today.”
The Acorns looked too tired to celebrate afterward, but they perked up when Sanders told them Guerrero’s goal came in the first five minutes.
That means ice cream is on the way.
“It took tenacity to win today,” Sanders said. “We just kept pushing … we never gave up.
“Even if (Leland) scored, I wouldn’t be mad at them for giving up. It was an awesome game. We rose to the occasion.”
WATER POLO
Quality wins for LO against Valley Christian
Live Oak’s boys and girls teams battled to quality wins Wednesday against visiting Valley Christian.
The Lady Acorns triumphed 17-9 with the help of six goals by Katie Rick and five by Rachel Cretcher, and the boys prevailed, 10-9, in a battle between Division II section quarterfinalists from a year ago. Cody Coleman netted a half dozen goals, and Saul Orona scored a pair for Live Oak.
GIRLS GOLF
Flores shoots 43 in Acorns win
Paige Flores is ushering a winning trend for the Lady Acorns.
A week after shooting a 49 at the Tri County Athletic League Jamboree, the Live Oak junior carded a 43 Tuesday as the Acorns routed Watsonville 215-251 at Pajaro Valley Golf Club.
Live Oak, which placed fifth at the 10-team jamboree, also received a 56 from Jennifer Schwegler and a 57 by Olivia Lastra on Tuesday.
GIRLS TENNIS
Sobrato beat LO, now 2-1 in league
A Santa Teresa Division-opening loss to Independence hasn’t slowed the Lady Bulldogs.
Sobrato edged Live Oak 4-3 Thursday and followed with a convincing 5-2 win over Mount Pleasant on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs’ top three singles Alexa Watanabe, Ali Pecsok and Allison Stoner won in two sets at Mount Pleasant, and their Nos. 1 and 3 doubles teams — Katie Martin and Amy Morimoto, Alicia Warren and Nemerta Chan — secured the team’s second league win.
Against the rival Acorns, Watanabe, Pecsok and Emerald Nguyen gave Sobrato a 3-0 lead in singles play, and Warren and Bettencourt provided the clinching doubles triumph.
Live Oak’s Elena McElheny was victorious in the No. 3 singles match, as were doubles teammates Amy Freitas and Jennifer Protsmann in three sets and Ana Ko and Emily Mandel in two.
