Veteran-heavy team will rely on the basics
MORGAN HILL — There were no catchy one-liners in Tony Goble’s postgame speech Wednesday; no hackneyed hyperbole, booming mantras or intricate breakdown to his soccer team’s season-opening 2-2 tie with Homestead.
He gave his Acorns a verbal pat on the back and sent them into the darkness at Live Oak High. Goble has a feeling there will be plenty of good matches to analyze this season, his 10th at Live Oak.
“There’s something different about this group,” he said. “You know what we’re doing this year that we haven’t done in the past is we’re keeping it simple. We’re playing basic soccer.”
That’s what you do when you add three quality players to a team that is returning all but two starters. Who needs gimmicks and creativity when your squad can succeed executing the simple things?
“Connect passes, work the game, crash the net. It worked very well for us today,” Goble said.
Despite never leading, the Acorns were in control for most of Wednesday’s Homestead Cup battle. They pulled even with Jacob Montoya’s score off of an outlet pass from Cesar Lustre and Ben Hartl’s header that was set up by a cross from Alejandro Diaz in the second half.
“We’re just good,” Montoya, a senior midfielder, said in a modest tone. “We were just really excited for the first game. We feel like we’re explosive.”
There are two reasons behind that. The Acorns are talented and unselfish with the ball.
“We have a solid group of boys that have bought into, ‘Hey, keep the game simple. It’s not about me. It’s about all 19 of us,'” Goble said.
“We work well together,” Montoya added. “Playing as a team is our biggest strength.”
It is safe to say Live Oak has improved from last year; not just because the team is an older version of the 2008-09 Acorns who finished 6-8-5 (3-7-4 in the Santa Teresa Division), but because they have put in quality training time. The Acorns practice in the wee hours before school starts.
“The morning workouts help out a lot,” Montoya said. “We still felt fresh by the end of the game.”
Goble touched on the refined skills of some of his standouts, including senior forward Adolfo Canela, junior sweeper James Walker and sophomore midfielder Juan Baca, plus the team’s talented newcomers like junior midfielder/forward Richard Curti, junior goalkeeper Dalton VandenBrandhorninge and Hartl.
“Ben played the entire offseason with us,” Goble said. “He’s come a long way.”
The connection from Diaz, a junior midfielder, to Hartl, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, will be a force for defenses to acknowledge.
“Alejandro has big-time control,” Hartl said. “He can place it pretty accurately.”
In order to play a factor in the Central Coast Section playoff race, the Acorns need to tighten up, Goble said.
“Everyone’s a little bit better this year. We’re bigger, faster and stronger. We were starting seven or right sophomores last year,” he said. “Now, we’re starting seven or eight juniors, a freshman, two sophomores and a senior.”
You can imagine where the team will be next winter.
