Whether or not Live Oak High girls soccer coach Tony Vasquez
objected, what the Central Coast Section seedings did to the Lady
Acorns was flat wrong. After defending CCS Division I co-champion
LO won its latest in a long string of league titles (including a
3-for-3 run of Tri-County Athletic League championships), the CCS
scoring system rated the perennially contending Acorns so low that
they ended up with a No. 10 seed out of just 12 teams in the D-I
playoffs.
Whether or not Live Oak High girls soccer coach Tony Vasquez objected, what the Central Coast Section seedings did to the Lady Acorns was flat wrong.
After defending CCS Division I co-champion LO won its latest in a long string of league titles (including a 3-for-3 run of Tri-County Athletic League championships), the CCS scoring system rated the perennially contending Acorns so low that they ended up with a No. 10 seed out of just 12 teams in the D-I playoffs.
To make matters worse, the second-place Gilroy girls soccer team was given a No. 9 seed.
Ever the master motivator, LO’s Vasquez put the best face on the obvious snub, claiming that he liked the bracket his team ended up in.
But there’s simply no way a league champion should be seeded lower than a runner-up, and CCS should alter its scoring system to avoid such an unfair seeding result.
As it turned out, LO ended up showing what it was made of by whipping its first-round opponent – No. 7 seed Menlo Atherton – and then taking No. 2 seed Santa Teresa to the brink (four overtimes and penalty kicks) before being eliminated.
Meanwhile, the Gilroy girls, who were ostensibly the blameless beneficiaries of a higher seed, actually ended up worse off. The Mustangs were placed in the same bracket as top seed Carlmont, but lost to an experienced Leland team (coached by Vasquez’s brother John) in its first-round match-up before getting a shot at the No. 1 seed.
Sometimes looking a gift horse in the mouth ain’t such a bad idea. Especially if it turns out to be a proverbial (Alisal) “Trojan” horse.
But more on that later.
Even worse was the CCS boys soccer playoff seeding process. After initially setting up the seeds on the Saturday before the playoffs, CCS officials had to call all the league reps back to a special meeting the next day when it was discovered that Alisal had miscounted its power points.
While the Trojans ended up dropping from a No. 2 seed to a No. 7, the TCAL’s LO and Gilroy boys teams got shuffled around, too.
While both the No. 6 Acorns, who won the TCAL title, and the No. 9 Mustangs, who were league runners-up, ended up with higher seeds, it was Gilroy that suffered a worse playoff match-up.
The ‘Stangs were faced with the exact same situation as the GHS girls, playing No. 8 Leland on the road in the same bracket as No. 1 (and nationally ranked) Watsonville.
Unfortunately, the GHS boys didn’t get their shot at the top seed either, losing to the Chargers in a disappointing opening-round loss.
And, the eventual winner in the seeding debacle?
That same Alisal team, the one that screwed up the original seedings, has advanced to the semifinals where the Trojans will take on LO on Wednesday at Piedmont Hills High in a 4:30pm match-up.
The winner makes the CCS finals on Friday, where odds are the top-seeded and defending section champion Catz will await.
Speaking of the CCS playoffs, it’s another bumper crop of postseason teams for the TCAL in basketball.
No. 5 North Salinas, No. 6 Hollister-San Benito, No. 13 Gilroy, No. 14 Salinas and No. 16 Live Oak all made the boys Division I playoffs.
In fact, the local teams are so ubiquitous that four of the teams – the Haybalers and Cowboys in one bracket and the Vikings and Mustangs in another – could end up playing each other in the quarterfinals if they can manage to win their openers.
Meanwhile, the LO boys, who finished fifth in the TCAL, snuck in via a kind of “play-in” game reminiscent of the NCAA tourney.
The Acorns play Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday night, two days before any of the other teams start play.
And, the reward?
Playing at No. 1 seed Woodside on Thursday.
Jim Johnson is the Morgan Hill Times Sports Editor. He can be reached by phone at (408) 779-4106 (ext. 203) or by email at [email protected]
