Live Oak was trying to run out the clock against Mt. Pleasant on Thursday leading 1-0, pulling its attackers back and going with a single high striker.
And with about one minute until stoppage time to go, the unthinkable happened: The Cardinals pushed forward and got a shot on goal that Live Oak’s keeper stopped, but the ball rolled backward and across the line.
That tied the game and sent the Acorns girls soccer team into desperation mode.
As precious seconds ticked away in stoppage time, Live Oak made a hard push to get the goal back.
In the third minute of stoppage time, with the referee allowing the Acorns to make one final push before blowing the whistle, Sydney Hauge sent in a crossing pass that found Sam Acosta all alone in front of the net.
Acosta caught the pass on her foot and unloaded a perfect strike into the corner of the net, stunning Mt. Pleasant.
The game was over and Live Oak walked away with a dramatic 2-1 win.
Acosta was mobbed by her teammates and allowed her coaches to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Our defense is our strongest point right now and we’ve given up the least amount of goals in league so far. They’re doing a really good job,” said coach Tony Vasquez. “For them to give up a late goal and bounce back, it shows the character of our team.”
She was subbed into the game less than 10 minutes before scoring the goal, as Vasquez said, to give her a little confidence and it paid off.
“She’s been practicing hard and working hard so it was good to get her a goal,” Vasquez said.
Live Oak actually had two bodies crashing the net when Hauge’s pass came screaming through and Acosta was the one who put the touch on the ball for the winning goal.
It was a dramatic end to an otherwise slow and mildly frustrating game for the Acorns.
Despite quality chances the entire first half and dominating time of possession the whole game, Live Oak went into the break in a scoreless tie with the Cardinals.
Ally Salzwedel almost broke up that tie in the 37th minute when she put a strike on target that Mt. Pleasant’s keeper just got her forearm on with a leaping stop to deny Live Oak the goal.
Live Oak had four shots on goal in the first half.
“I’ve been telling these girls, the best way to score goals in soccer is to get the ball out wide and put it back in,” Vasquez said. “But a lot of times, we seem to try to force it and shove it down teams’ throats. A lot of times, that doesn’t work sometimes you have to get that sweeper to move to one side.”
Things started to open up in the second half, with Brisa Lugo, Morgan Salzwedel and Holly Hopwood all converging in the box for a 3-on-2 opportunity in the 57th minute that was just broken up by a pesky Mt. Pleasant defense.
One minute later, Hopwood had a second look in front of the net, but the pass was slightly behind her foot and the time she needed to get square allowed the defense to reset.
In the 61st minute, the pressure finally paid off.
Morgan put a shot on goal that the keeper denied, but didn’t clear. Ally was there to clean up what her sister started, putting a great strike on goal for a 1-0 lead.
That’s where things stood for the next 13 minutes of play.
The Cardinals got more and more desperate as time went on and finally got a quality look on goal in the 78th minute as an attacker had a 1-on-1 look with Live Oak’s Haley Bonfante.
Bonfante turned the shot away, but the Cardinals kept coming.
Finally, Mt. Pleasant took a shot that Bonfante stopped and slowed down the ball. But it kept rolling toward the net and she made a valiant diving attempt to keep it from crossing the line. The line judge made the call of a goal, with the ball just clearing the line.
Live Oak, however, made sure the sophomore wouldn’t take the loss on a hard-luck goal.
Live Oak improves to 7-1 in Santa Teresa Division play and remains a game back of Westmont, who has yet to lose in league action and is unbeaten on the season. Live Oak is 9-1-2 overall.
The Acorns will next travel to Pioneer on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. game.
