Acorns remain undefeated in League; wait for playoff opponent to
be announced Saturday
The Live Oak and Gilroy boys soccer teams battled each other for eighty minutes Tuesday at Live Oak, but neither team was able to deliver the fatal punch that would bring give them the bragging rights.
“We knew going in we won the league,” said Live Oak coach Tony Goble. “But we wanted to go undefeated. We wanted to win. A tie is still undefeated. We created a lot of offense. If this same team shows up for CCS, we should do well.”
Both teams had their places in the Tri-County Athletic League wrapped up before the game begin. For the Acorns, who claimed the league title, it was a game to nurse some wounds.
Even with forwards Anthony Razouk and Julian Barta out with injury and defender Nick Mott out with the flu, Live Oak still managed to put together several quality runs at goal.
Defender Andy Cunningham played the game, but he is still suffering an ankle injury.
“It is a little sore right now, but it will be OK,” said Cunningham as he soaked it in a bucket of ice after the game.
Both Gilroy goalie Oscar Garcia and Live Oak goalie Nick Rauschnott came up with huge saves to keep their teams in the game. Live Oak has given up just two goals in league, and Gilroy has given up four goals – two of which were to Live Oak in the previous meeting.
There was a lot of midfield field action as neither team wanted to give up its advantage.
“We controlled the midfield,” Goble said. “That is what controlled the game. Defensively, we are solid. If we can control the midfield, we are able to control the game. We were able to get the forwards the ball, which we weren’t able to do against Palma.”
But this game was a far less physical game than last game in which Gilroy received nine cards and Live Oak received one. Live Oak did receive three yellow cards.
“We didn’t want to do anything retarded that could take us out going into CCS,” said sophomore forward Hussein Abdullahi. “We tried our hardest and gave it everything we had.”
Both teams had great quality opportunities to put in goals.
“We had a couple looks at balls that just missed going across the goal” Goble said. “I’ll take that though. We had some solid attacking along with our defending.”
At about the 30-minute mark, Cesar Serrano came up with a steal and dished it off to Trevor Kozacek, who took the shot. It initially bounced off the Gilroy goalie, but he recovered for the save.
Sergio Avila, who leads the Acorns with 14 goals, made a diving head shot. But a Gilroy defender just got in front of him, and the shot sailed over the net shortly before the half.
Gilroy increased the pressure in the second half, but Live Oak made several good runs in front of the many fans that lined the side of the field. The playoff atmosphere intensified as the crowd hoped for a goal or two. But that was not to happen.
In the second half, Kozacek, worked a ball around the right side and passed it to Avila. Avila’s diagonal shot from right to left rolled just wide of the goalie and the net.
And with about seven minutes left, Kozacek crossed a ball from the right to Hector Lopez on the left. But Lopez’s shot went just wide. Even as Lopez was on the ground in disbelief, Kozacek came over and gave him a big hug in appreciation of the good effort.
“It was a good intense game,” said Gilroy assistant coach and World Cup referee Brian Hall, who is recovering from knee surgery. “It could have easily been 2-1 or 2-2. It was a good way for both teams to end their seasons going into the playoffs.”
Live Oak and Gilroy will find out who they play in the playoffs during the seeding meeting Saturday afternoon.
“We practice shooting every day,” Goble said. “And it has paid off because we have probably scored three times as many goals as last year. If we can show up and finish, we should do well.”
