In an intense game, the Live Oak field hockey team fell in the
second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs 3-0 to St.
Francis.
Mountain View – In an intense game, the Live Oak field hockey team fell in the second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs 3-0 to St. Francis.
After a win over Saratoga on Thursday that went to two rounds of shootouts, the Acorns couldn’t match up with No. 3 seeded Saint Francis, the defending co-champions of the CCS.
“The game on Saturday was a big game. We had nothing to lose and everything to win,” coach Mike Sanders said. “I told the girls that they were only going to play their game if they had fun. The second half they did have fun. I am extremely proud of how they played.”
The Acorns put on a good show thanks to defenders, Sarah Locarnini and Kelly McDonald, who cut off forwards and limited the opportunities at goal.
In addition to Locarnini and McDonald, Holly Turay shut down two break-away attempts that could have been converted into goals and cleared out several short corner attempts.
The offense had several chances at goal, including a short-corner shot by Kami Tersini that was blocked by Saint Francis’s keeper.
In Thursday’s game against Saratoga, the Falcons struck first early in the second half, going up on a goal shot at point-blank range in front of the net.
Live Oak responded less than 30 seconds later with a goal by Robin Nelson.
Midway through the second half, Nelson found the back of the net again to put Live Oak up 2-1.
Saratoga, in the waning minutes of regulation, tied the score behind a shot in front of the net by Maddie Block.
After two round of scoreless overtime, the two squads went to a shoot out.
Live Oak went up by two shots in the first round of shoot outs and needed either a goal or a miss by Saratoga to win the game.
But the Falcons found the back of the net twice and both of the Acorns’ shots were stopped by the Saratoga goalie.
In the second round, the game came down to Saratoga’s final shooter. Up 2-1, goalie Janet Lee blocked the final Falcon shot to win the game.
“When you are there, you do everything and think about nothing,” Lee said about her approach to the shootouts. “You just do everything you know how to do.”
The Acorns finish their season 11-5-3, an improvement over last year’s season 6-7-5.
