The Acorns girls water polo team breezed through the first two
rounds of the TCAL Championship Tournament, taking care of Carmel
15-5 in Morgan Hill on Tuesday and Monterey 13-5 in Monterey on
Thursday.
The Acorns girls water polo team breezed through the first two rounds of the TCAL Championship Tournament, taking care of Carmel 15-5 in Morgan Hill on Tuesday and Monterey 13-5 in Monterey on Thursday.
The victories put Live Oak in the championship game against Santa Catalina.
In Thursday’s contest, the Toreadors jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the game’s first minute against what seemed to be a sluggish Acorns squad.
“I think we came out a little too jittery in the first two or three minutes,” Coach Brain Traverso said. “We let them go up on us by making some bad passes and not moving.”
Unfortunately for Monterey, their quick goal set a fire under Live Oak.
The Acorns fired right back with the first of three goals from sophomore Amy Marshall that ignited a Live Oak rally.
By the time the first quarter ended, the Acorns had scored seven straight goals to make it a 7-1 game. And that was all that the Acorns would need.
Despite the outburst, it could have been a lot worse for Monterey. Even though the Acorns had 13 goals, senior Jessilyn Haines said they missed many other scoring opportunities.
“We played good, (but) we didn’t put the ball away (on our shots),” she said.
Senior Chelsea Laning, who led the team with four goals, said the Toreadors didn’t counter very much, which helped lead to Live Oak’s offensive outburst.
The Acorns added a single goal in the second quarter, four more in the third, and one to close it out in the 4th.
“We played very well. It’s always fun to play in the rain,” Laning said jokingly.
Monterey was able to put three goals on the board in the forth after being shut out in the third and netting just a single goal in the second quarter. But the goals were too little, too late.
Traverso said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We moved the ball a lot better (than the first game),” he said. “It was almost poetry in motion.”
Along with Laning’s four goals and Marshall’s three, sophomore Ronnie Gautschi added three of her own.
Traverso said aside from the mental lapse in the game’s opening minutes, his team played much better and was able to communicate more than in the first game of the tournament against Carmel.
“A lot of times that’s the difference between great teams and very good teams,” he said.
In the first game on Tuesday against Carmel, sophomore Ronnie Gautschi led all scorers with six goals. Seniors Chelsea Laning and Jessica Kapetanic and sophomore Laura Melroy had two goals each.
Traverso said his girls played very good in what he considered more of a warm-up match than anything.
He said he was happy with the way his team played for the most part, noting that his defense was on the ball and his shooting was phenomenal.
But there were a few things Live Oak would have to polish up in order to win the tournament, Traverso said.
“As far as talking to each other, we didn’t do a very good job of that at all,” Traverso said. “ And we know that. We’ve been working on it all season long. We need to communicate better.”
He also said the team’s passing and being able to recognize what the other team is trying to do needs to improve as well.
Although Live Oak might miss a pass here and there or not communicate as well as they should, nobody can ever accuse them of not being ready for the tournament.
“The intensity level was there,” Traverso said. “We know it’s post season. You need to play every game like it’s our last. This past week and a half momentum has been building. I know we’re ready.”
The Acorns will play Santa Catalina for the TCAL Championship on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.. Santa Catalina upset San Benito 8-5 in the semifinals. Going into the tournament the Balers went 7-1in league, losing to only Live Oak.
The boys team – who ended league play undefeated and are ranked No. 1 like the girls team – had a first round bye. They are scheduled to play Saturday – also at Santa Catalina – at 10:00 a.m.. With a win they will play for the championship at 3:00 p.m.
