Goalkeeper Maggie Cropp did everything she could in leading
Sobrato to its first victory over Live Oak in girls soccer – she
even scored the game-winner.
From 47 yards Cropp blasted a direct kick that deflected off
goalkeeper Macey Linder’s gloves into the top of the net in the
78th minute, sending the Bulldogs to a 2-1 upset of the two-time
defending Mount Hamilton Division champs Friday at Live Oak High
School.
“I practice them all the time. I just sit there and try to hit
the crossbar from 50 yards out,” said Cropp, who was mobbed by
teammates after the game. “It’s no different from a goal kick. It’s
just higher up on the field. I feel like I can put my head down and
just go for it.”
MORGAN HILL
Goalkeeper Maggie Cropp did everything she could in leading Sobrato to its first victory over Live Oak in girls soccer – she even scored the game-winner.
From 47 yards Cropp blasted a direct kick that deflected off goalkeeper Macey Linder’s gloves into the top of the net in the 78th minute, sending the Bulldogs to a 2-1 upset of the two-time defending Mount Hamilton Division champs Friday at Live Oak High School.
“I practice them all the time. I just sit there and try to hit the crossbar from 50 yards out,” said Cropp, who was mobbed by teammates after the game. “It’s no different from a goal kick. It’s just higher up on the field. I feel like I can put my head down and just go for it.”
Cropp stopped 11 shots on net, including three leaping saves in stoppage time to clinch it. The Mercer-bound senior outdid herself however with her second theatrical goal this season. The first one, roughly a 60-yarder, clinched a 2-2 tie at San Benito on Dec. 9.
Sobrato midfielder Rebekah Inouye had a feeling Cropp could do it again.
“I was on the sideline thinking to myself, ‘She’s made it from half field, so this one’s going in,’” Inouye said. “She scored, and I just started screaming.”
Sobrato coach Paul Nishimatsu doesn’t care who’s doing the scoring for his Bulldogs (3-2-3, 1-0-1), who are unbeaten in six of their last seven games and in great shape entering the second week of league play.
Sobrato visits Santa Teresa at 3:15 p.m. today.
“It’s huge,” Nishimatsu said. “We’ve tied (Live Oak) so many times and have lost to them the last few years. Finally we get a W. That puts a really big feather in the girls’ cap. It gives them confidence. It can be done.”
The Acorns meanwhile are suddenly in a tailspin. They imposed their will during a 4-0 finish in nonleague but have since dropped consecutive games for the first time since 2007. They were upended 3-1 by Santa Teresa in their Jan. 4 Mount Hamilton Division opener.
“I think we all are a little bit (frustrated).” junior forward Jada Williams said. “I think we got blindsided a little, but we can’t let it affect the whole season. We have to move on. You’re going to lose games, but you have to get over it.
In one of the chippier meetings (nine fouls, one yellow card) between the crosstown rivals, Live Oak played efficiently enough to win Friday but struggled to finish scoring chances against an inspired Sobrato backline, led by Kate van Keulen and Rebecca Rottenborn. The Bulldogs bent but did not break against the likes of Alissa Pham and Megan Rauschnot, whom van Keulen did an excellent job marking.
“It was definitely hard; she’s an amazing player,” van Keulen said. “But coach put me on her, and I did what I could. We had to think aggressive and play hard the whole way because it’s a rivalry game. We knew they were going to go their hardest.”
Live Oak outshot Sobrato 16-6 but was foiled time and again by Cropp. The fourth-year starter delivered an MVP performance, diving for countless saves and deflections. She knocked the wind out of herself while batting away a beeping 15-yard shot by Shannon Rauschnot in the 80th minute.
“I knew it was going to be like this – it’s Live Oak,” Cropp said. “You’ve got to be ready to go.
“I started preparing like three days ago, just like, ‘Oh, we have to play Live Oak, better start eating right, get my mind set.’ I have to take every precaution I can take because they’re good, really good.”
The Acorns made tying the score, 1-1, look easy in the 32nd minute. Amber Thomas slipped away from defenders down the right sideline and passed to a wide-open Pham, who buried a shot into the top left corner.
Live Oak (4-0, 0-2) pressed the remainder of the half and nearly took the lead on a counterattack, with defender Sami Riolo lobbing a shot that Cropp was barely able to punch over the crossbar.
The Bulldogs didn’t back down in the second half, even after Tiffany Geer entered the game at attacking mid. The Acorns had nine shots on goal in the final 44 minutes, including four from inside 25 yards.
“We had a lot of chances. We just didn’t finish,” Thomas said. “I think we just need to focus more on that. I think we have a lot of chances that we aren’t able to capitalize on. … We still have a good shot at the (league) title.”
Sobrato, which tied the Acorns 1-1 in their previous meeting with another tape-measure goal by then senior Jennae Cambra, took the fight to Live Oak early on and was rewarded with Nijah Nunley’s goal in the 19th minute. The sophomore followed Tamlin Vereyken’s cross that glanced off Linder’s outstretched arm to the open side of the net. Nunley’s shot had just enough on it to break the goal line before Kirsten Doting cleared it.
Sobrato’s long-awaited victory remained in doubt even after Cropp’s goal. The celebration didn’t go full tilt until the final whistle.
“We all ran to Maggie,” van Keulen said. “It was an amazing feeling. What a day.”
