Live Oak’s Michaela Swensen is excited for the start of league

When they lost 6-0 to Los Gatos in the Central Coast Section
quarterfinals a year ago, the Live Oak Acorns felt honored. They
ended the season on the same playing surface as the area’s flagship
outfit, the New York Yankees of field hockey, and had gained
valuable experience heading into an even more promising 2011
campaign. Thursday night at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, Live Oak
made good on that while slaying Gilroy, one of the section’s other
giants, 2-1 in a scrimmage. These were not the same Mustangs who
lost 3-1 to Los Gatos in the 2010 championship — Gilroy graduated
12 players in the offseason — and the game won’t reflect on either
teams’ record. But it did count in the Acorns’ minds
GILROY

When they lost 6-0 to Los Gatos in the Central Coast Section quarterfinals a year ago, the Live Oak Acorns felt honored, having ended their season on the same field as the area’s premier field hockey program.

Thursday night at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex, Live Oak made good on that experience while slaying one of the section’s other giants, Gilroy, by 2-1 score in a scrimmage.

These were not the same Mustangs who lost 3-1 to Los Gatos in the 2010 championship — Gilroy graduated 12 players in the offseason — and the game won’t reflect on either teams’ record.

But it did count in the Acorns’ minds.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Michaela Swensen, the Acorns’ headstrong co-captain. “I think it made us come together more as a team, and it helps us that much more because it gives us that confidence that we need.

“I think that it’s going to be a great season.”

That says a lot, considering Live Oak was 1-4-1 at the end of nonleague play, with the lone official win coming Friday by 2-0 score over C league Sobrato.

To prime her team for a Santa Teresa Division-title run — starting at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday against visiting Branham — Acorns coach Gina Sanders put together a grueling nonconference slate that included six A league opponents who reached the CCS quarterfinals or farther in 2010. While their schedule seems to have backfired on paper, the Acorns’ attitude suggests otherwise.

“There’s been some hard defeats at times,” senior Anisha Patel said. “But we want to show the rest of the teams out there that we play A (league) ball, and we’re here to win it.”

The Acorns have enjoyed some of their best field hockey as of late, led by their fast, physical midfield of Kirsten Doting, Swensen and Patel. The three seniors, known affectionately as the “C Unit” for their captaincy and skillful work on corner plays, dictated much of the flow in Thursday’s game and set up goals by Danielle Horning and Macey Dunne, who buried the game-winner in the second of three 20-minute periods.

“That was the first game we’ve scored first in a game so far, so it was a great feeling for them,” Sanders said. “The girls are starting to see the light and use what we’re practicing to score.”

With her speed and quickness, The speedy Patel has been a bee in every defenders’ bonnet. She is a perfect complement to Swensen and Doting’s superb passing, shooting and height.

“They’re beasts,” said Horning, a senior forward. “(The midfielders) really help us because, although we were pumped and so excited after that win (over Gilroy), they were like, ‘Dude, don’t get cocky. You have to keep bringing it every game.’ I think that’s really important.”

Watching the play between the midfielders and forwards Marisa Faust, Sydney Barker, Megan Rauschnot and Horning is poetry in motion. They’re some of the best athletes at Live Oak High School and have played together for years.

That was plain to see Friday against Sobrato, with Swensen, Barker and Dunne scoring off finely tuned corner plays (Swensen’s was mistakenly disallowed). Even with that, the Acorns weren’t satisfied with the 2-0 margin.

“We still need work on finishing,” Swensen said. “We create a lot of scoring, but we need to keep our sticks down and capitalize more We can always get better.”

Goalkeeper Melissa Sigona has been the Acorns’ Player of the Decade, Sanders said half jokingly. Against Gilroy the senior stopped four consecutive shots in one sequence.

The Sobrato Bulldogs kept Friday’s game within reach behind a solid afternoon by their goalie, Kailee Izat, making both her varsity and goalkeeping debuts. The junior prevented several more goals from going in and received key defensive help by Kate van Keulen, Allie Bondi and Nicole Kiles.

It was easily the winless Bulldogs’ best game this season.

“We need some more support in the field,” said SHS coach Jessica Naranjo, whose team opens West Valley Division play at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Westmont. “But right now we’re starting to work together. We’re right there.”

Sanders was slightly frustrated after the Sobrato game — “The rivalry, for whatever reason, makes us play out of zone,” she said — though mostly because of Swensen’s nullified goal.

“She got the ball in the circle and just crushed it,” Sanders said. “It was the greatest goal I’ve seen her score, and it didn’t even count.”

The Acorns’ biggest win, however, did. Even if the record book doesn’t show it.

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