Acorns tie Mustangs in first meeting 1-1; fall in 1-0 in next
match
Morgan Hill – In the first of two meetings in three days between the Live Oak Acorns and Gilroy Mustangs’ girls soccer teams, it seemed as though Gilroy was going to escape with the narrow 1-0 win on Saturday morning in Tri-County Athletic League action against Live Oak, as they repeatedly denied the Acorns’ offense at the goal.
Live Oak (3-4-5, 2-2-3 TCAL), however, wouldn’t be turned away so easily and found the back of the net with less than a minute remaining in the game to tie the Mustangs (7-4-4, 6-0-2 TCAL), 1-1.
“We had so many opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Acorns’ coach Tony Vasquez. “It was a good hard-fought game. This was a test to see what we were all about. The girls were really up for this game and we kept pressing.”
Monday night at Gilroy, the Live Oak found itself down once again 1-0. But this time, the Acorns couldn’t even the score and fell to the Mustangs for the first time ever in Tri-County Athletic League play.
Live Oak dropped to 3-4-5 overall and 2-2-3 in TCAL. Gilroy, meanwhile, improved to 7-4-4 overall and to a first place 6-0-2 standing in league.
On Saturday, the Mustangs’ offense struck quickly as they came out an pushed the ball up to Live Oak’s goal. Gilroy’s midfielder Amanda Bruce dribbled the ball up the right sideline then found forward Jenny Loi who booted into the Acorns’ goal to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the first half.
“It was a hard-fought effort and a solid game,” said Gilroy coach Jose Hernandez. “We have a lot of areas to improve on.”
The rest of the game was a physical defensive battle as each team had opportunities to score, but couldn’t convert near the goal. Both the Acorns’ and Mustangs’ goalkeeper played well in goal for their teams, keeping the attacks at bay. Lorin Acker had seven saves in goal for Live Oak and Sara Hugo made six stops for Gilroy.
Late in the second half the Acorns’ attack was finally able to penetrate and find the back of the net as Live Oak defender Alayna Bongiorno dropped a corner kick right in front of the goal, midfielder Sara Whitling took care of the rest as she followed the ball past Hugo for the score in traffic to tie the score at 1-1.
Less than a minute later the whistles blew, signaling the end of the game.
“This game gave us a little bit of confidence,” said Vasquez. “They scored in the first two minutes, which I think was nerves and being unfocused on our part.”
In the second meeting Monday, Live Oak didn’t allow an early Gilroy goal. Both teams battled to a 0-0 tie at halftime. In the second half, the Mustangs controlled the ball for the first eight minutes of the game but Live Oak got better looks at the goal. Forward Jenny Emick fired a hard shot from 35 yards out straight at Gilroy keeper Hugo. The Acorns had three other looks at goal during the first 15 minutes of the second half.
But it was Gilroy who finally broke the 0-0 tie. Mustangs forward Stephanie Glenn got the ball on the right wing, made a quick move to her right and fired a shot far post for the lone goal of the game.
The Acorns made one last push for a goal in the final two minutes. Jamie Hickey beat Gilroy defender Kendra Sato one-on-one and made a run at the Gilroy goal, but Hugo came out and kicked the ball away from her.
Then in the waning seconds, the Acorns had a corner kick opportunity. But again, Gilroy was able to clear the ball.
Live Oak is back in action today at 3:30pm against the San Benito Haybalers in Hollister.
