If you had the distinct pleasure of watching the Live Oak High
girls soccer team over the past four seasons, odds are you saw a
slightly blurred streak of green and gold sprinting past three and
four defenders, gobble up the ball without a pause and send a
screaming liner past a hapless goalie. For four years, Michelle
McDonald wreaked havoc on opposing defenses, tallying an astounding
84 goals and 24 assists over her varsity career. She led the team
in scoring all four years, and scored so often and in such bunches,
that she could easily have been known as
“Hat Trick,” a reference to her propensity for scoring three
goals in one match. And, it wasn’t just individual accomplishments
that made her career shine. During her time with the Acorns, LO won
league titles and advanced to the section playoffs each year. This
season, McDonald capped her ama
zing tenure with the Acorns with the pinnacle of individual
accomplishment, the Tri-County Athletic League’s Most Valuable
Player award.
Speedy senior scored goals in bunches
If you had the distinct pleasure of watching the Live Oak High girls soccer team over the past four seasons, odds are you saw a slightly blurred streak of green and gold sprinting past three and four defenders, gobble up the ball without a pause and send a screaming liner past a hapless goalie.
For four years, Michelle McDonald wreaked havoc on opposing defenses, tallying an astounding 84 goals and 24 assists over her varsity career. She led the team in scoring all four years, and scored so often and in such bunches, that she could easily have been known as “Hat Trick,” a reference to her propensity for scoring three goals in one match.
And, it wasn’t just individual accomplishments that made her career shine. During her time with the Acorns, LO won league titles and advanced to the section playoffs each year.
This season, McDonald capped her amazing tenure with the Acorns with the pinnacle of individual accomplishment, the Tri-County Athletic League’s Most Valuable Player award.
For the speedy senior, it was the culmination of her high school sports career, one that began when she was a skinny freshman playing with the big girls.
“This is pretty much everything I’ve hoped for,” McDonald said. “Obviously, everybody wants to get MVP, but playing high school soccer was more of a fun thing for me, compared to club soccer. I have so much fun with the girls. It’s really relaxing.”
Coming into this season, though, McDonald decided that fun wasn’t going to be enough. After being relegated to second-team all-league last year, McDonald huddled with longtime coach Tony Vasquez to talk about what her goals would be for her senior year. In preparation, McDonald eschewed a pet offseason sport – field hockey – in order to dedicate herself exclusively to soccer. She also decided she’d have to take the leadership reins on a relatively young squad.
“Starting off this season, I didn’t know what to expect because I’d always been the baby on all my teams before but I knew I’d have to be a captain and a leader (this season),” McDonald said. “I kind of remembered what it was like for me as a freshman and sophomore, and tried to help our younger players. And, I knew our team depended on my intensity. I scored more as a freshman and sophomore, but this year I was so much more into getting everyone involved.”
It paid off. With McDonald racking up 19 goals and spreading the wealth with a career-high 14 assists, LO’s underclassmen-dominated squad had another fine year.
“I told her she could be MVP,” Vasquez said. “Her motivation was there and she really dedicated herself. She was focused.”
Vasquez, who has coached McDonald in club soccer since she was a seventh-grader playing with girls two years older than she was, said his prodigy is simply the best scorer he’s ever coached.
“It’s her speed,” Vasquez said. “It’s fun to watch her play. She makes it fun.”
Other LO all-league first teamers included senior center-midfielder Lena Marsh – the heart and soul of our team,” according to Vasquez; junior defender Jamie Hickey, who is “like another coach on the field,” Vasquez said; and junior forward Jenny Emick, the team’s second-leading scorer who will be counted on to fill in McDonald’s scoring next season; and junior goalkeeper Andrea Riolo, a “big-time player,” according to Vasquez. Marsh was named co-Midfielder of the Year, while Riolo earned another Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Junior center-mid Avalos was team’s glue
Anyone who watched Anthony Avalos playing varsity as a tiny little freshman two years ago probably couldn’t have envisioned the player he would develop into this season.
But LO coach Tony Goble knew.
“He’s the kid on the field that has the vision,” Goble said. “He sees the entire field, which is unusual in high school. The good players have that. And, you could see he had it when he was a freshman.”
This season, the junior center-midfielder parlayed that vision into a standout season during which he led his team to a league title, a No. 2 ranking in the Central Coast Section and a foray deep into the section playoffs. (LO advanced to the Division I semifinals.)
But Avalos’ great vision wasn’t quite good enough to see that he would earn the Tri-County Athletic League’s highest individual honor this season – the Most Valuable Player award.
“I went in thinking I would play for the team, do my own thing and see what happens,” Avalos said. “I never thought about individual honors. But this (the MVP award) is great. All that hard work is paying off.”
Indeed, Avalos has been hard at work improving his game. Over the offseason after last year, Avalos tried out for and made the Olympic Development Program’s state team. He said playing at such a high level of competition helped him immensely to get ready for this season.
“It’s a very high level of play,” Avalos said. “Every practice is a competition and you learn to play much quicker. Even when you’re not playing you have to learn to get better.”
Goble said the experience helped Avalos make the leap from being The Kid, a talented youngster, to The Man.
“Year-round soccer is where kids get better,” Goble said. “It’s where they get more mature.”
While Avalos wasn’t the league’s highest scorer – he wasn’t even his team’s top scorer, an honor that went to fellow ODP player Garrett Frechette – it was his ability to control play and direct the offense from his center-mid position that set him apart from the rest, Goble said.
“Our center-mid is probably one of the most important players on the team,” Goble said. “Anthony controls the ball offensively for us and distributes the ball. It all starts with him.”
Avalos said one of his top individual performances came against Salinas when he scored a hat trick (three goals in a match), a feat that “boosted my confidence,” and a victory over rival Gilroy in which he tallied a key penalty kick goal. But he said his favorite match was the victory over Mountain View in the CCS quarterfinals when “the whole team really came together.”
Avalos and Frechette, who was named the TCAL’s Junior of the Year, return next season for the Acorns with a solid roster that includes junior defender Nick Mott, sophomore goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis, and talented freshmen Robert Adam, Casey Mott and Matt Altamirano.
Other LO first-teamers included senior defender Hassan Abdullahi, Frechette, the elder Mott and Adam, who was also named co-Freshman of the Year.
According to Goble, Frechette established himself as one of the top scoring threats in CCS, while Abdullahi and the elder Mott were the “heart and soul” of a defense that allowed just 10 goals all year. And, Adam, who spent the first part of the season in the net in place of the injured Steenhuis before moving to his customary forward position, was the best of a talented group of freshmen.
