The Live Oak girls soccer team added another impressive win to its Central Coast Section playoff run, this one coming against previously unbeaten Pioneer.
The Acorns beat the fourth-seeded Mustangs 3-0 in a Division II quarterfinal that was another outstanding display of ball-control, hustle and teamwork Saturday at Pioneer High School.
It was windy the entire game, to the point where both teams had to take that into account when setting their strategies. The fifth-seeded Acorns had the wind to their backs to start the game and were able to press Pioneer the entire first half. The relentless pressure paid off in the 26th minute when a hand-ball call against Pioneer led to a penalty-kick goal by midfielder Tiffany Geer. Geer’s kick found the bottom right corner of the net, screaming past the goalie’s outreached hands.
“We usually decide who will kick penalty kicks based on who feels confident,” Geer said. “I normally feel comfortable doing it, and it being the playoffs, I went and got the ball.”
If the Mustangs had not respected Geer’s foot after the first goal, they did so in the 37th minute, when the San Diego State-bound senior fired a laser from 25 yards out, blowing the ball past the goalie before she could take two steps. The goal was a definite momentum-changer, and that it happened just before the half was huge.
“I have the foot to do it,” Geer said, “and I saw the shot was open, so I just tried to get it in there. I did a little fake left and right to get some space, and then I just let it go. When I saw it go in, I felt the pressure was off us and that we could just focus on playing our game now.”
With the beginning of the second half, the Acorns (14-5-2) had to fight the strong winds that had been helping them. This did not faze the girls, who continued to keep the pressure on Pioneer.
Within the 41st minute, Geer found junior Jada Williams with a perfectly placed pass that Williams knocked in with her head. The 20-yard pass caught the Mustangs defense in transition, allowing Williams to beat the goalie and a defender for the score.
“I rarely do any headers, so I didn’t expect it to go in actually,” Williams said. “Her pass was great. It was so high, but the wind knocked it down perfectly in front of me. That would have definitely not worked on the other end.”
Pioneer (16-1-4), now down 3-0, was running out of time. The Mustangs began pushing the ball into defenders, trying to take advantage of open opportunities to put the ball in Live Oak’s net. Sophomore goalkeeper Macey Linder did not give them any such opportunity, either knocking down or grabbing anything that came remotely close to her.
“One of those shots was scary,” Linder said. “It was a pretty well kicked ball that was above my head, and I was afraid it was gonna squirt out from between my hands. Luckily that was the hardest shot I saw. A lot of that is because Sami (Riolo) saves my life daily out there.”
Regardless of that, it is Linder who has kept the Acorns’ net empty for an amazing 11 consecutive halves. That is 440 minutes of play in which the opposing team has not scored.
“Linder played an excellent game,” Live Oak coach Tony Vasquez said. “Our four defenders in the back (Kirsten Doting, Sydney Barker, Emily Kyle, Riolo) stepped up really well, too.”
Live Oak next face top-seeded defending champ Archbishop Mitty (18-1-3) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Valley Christian High School. A win will put the Acorns back into the final round, where they lost 2-1 to Valley Christian in the Division III title game last year. Mitty, the West Catholic Athletic League regular-season and tournament champs, beat Valley Christian 1-0 Saturday.
Live Oak played to a scoreless tie with the Monarchs on Feb. 6 in Morgan Hill.
“I was glad they (beat Valley Christian) because I wanted to play the best,” Vasquez said. “I feel like our team has the ability to compete at this level.
“I told the girls after the game, ‘Let’s bring on Mitty. Let’s go for it.’”
