The early season schedule has not been kind to the Live Oak
girls water polo team.
Morgan Hill – The early season schedule has not been kind to the Live Oak girls water polo team.
The Acorns have faced some tough competition and dropped some lopsided contests to some local powerhouses such as Leland, Archbishop Mitty and Sacred Heart Prep.
But things appear to be turning around for Live Oak. After a 5-3 loss to San Benito in the opener of Sixer Water Polo Tournament at Indepedence last Friday, the Acorns rebounded to beat Clovis East and Mountain View to take home third place.
That hard work carried over into the Blossom Valley Athletic League opener Wednesday, as an all-around team effort produced an 18-1 win.
“It was a great showing of what they’ve been working on in practice,” Live Oak coach Sharon Hyrne said. “They’ve had a lot of really tough games leading up to this particular game and they kind of had a rough start, but they really improved a lot as far as counter-attack, anticipation and working together as a team.”
The team work was evident from the beginning. Five different players scored the first five goals for the Acorns and they finished the game with every girl scoring at least one goal.
“Those are the big things that we were focusing on and that was obvious,” Hyrne said. “Everybody scored a goal and they were all working toward that common goal of everybody scoring.”
Ashley Rojas and Laura Shope both led the way for Live Oak with four goal apiece. Chelsea Carrillo scored twice and the balance of the roster each had one goal.
“It’s a great confidence builder,” Hyrne said of the win. “It was a great opportunity for different girls to step up and take leadership roles and different girls to try out different roles in the pool. It allowed them to play new roles and get confidence.”
Shope and Rojas also led the way for Live Oak during the tournament. Shope had nine goals and Rojas added four. Senior Melissa Poon, juniors Kristi Short, Allysa Pinarbasi and Jessica Poon, sophomore Missy Wilder and freshmen Katie Rick and Sarah Sendejas also produced goals over the weekend while Carrillo provided solid defense at the goalie position.
