It just wasn
’t in the cards for the Live Oak High boys soccer team Thursday.
In its big showdown against league leader Gilroy, the Acorns played
well enough to have a shot at winning against the No. 2-ranked team
in the section.
It just wasn’t in the cards for the Live Oak High boys soccer team Thursday.
In its big showdown against league leader Gilroy, the Acorns played well enough to have a shot at winning against the No. 2-ranked team in the section.
But Live Oak’s season-long misfortune, and frustration, on the offensive end continued as two key shots from point-blank range banged off the crossbar.
As a result, instead of tying or winning the essential Tri-County Athletic League contest, the Acorns fell 3-1 to the visiting Mustangs, leaving themselves little chance for defending their TCAL title.
However, Live Oak coach Tony Goble said his team should hold its head up high after giving one of the area’s top teams a run for its money.
“We’re disappointed,” Goble said. “But we know we can play with the best team in the county. We scored first. We had more shots on goal in the first half. I told the guys that this gives us a good run at the second half (of the league season). We don’t have to hang our heads. We’re still in second place and we’re still in line to make (the) CCS (play-offs).”
Indeed, Live Oak (2-1-2 in league) will probably have to settle for second place in the TCAL because the victory gave Gilroy (5-0 in league) a huge lead in whatever race remains for first.
That fact was not lost on Gilroy coach Brian Hall.
“(This win) gives us room for a mistake or two,” Hall said. “But right now, everybody is gunning for us.”
In fact, Live Oak was doing a little gunning for the favored Mustangs in the first half. Despite being the underdog in a league match for the first time in a very long while against the talented and quick Mustangs, the Acorns came out fired up and took charge.
The Acorns grabbed the momentum by scoring first, on a goal early in the first half by sophomore Garrett Frechette for a 1-0 lead, putting the pressure on the Mustangs right away.
However, Gilroy answered with a goal just moments later by junior Artemio Arteaga to knot the score at 1-1.
“The big thing is, that automatically takes the wind out of (Live Oak’s) sails, and gives us confidence,” Hall said. “That was one of the most beautiful goals.”
Live Oak used its size and aggressiveness to hold off the speedy Mustangs’ high-scoring offensive attack for the rest of the half.
And, the Acorns’ offense, led by AJ Battel — who returned from injury after missing nearly two months, had several more scoring chances, including an empty-goal chance by Trevor Kozacek that clanged off the cross-bar of the Gilroy goal.
Battel and Kozacek both had a couple of other opportunities to score in the first half but couldn’t quite convert.
In fact, Hall said his players seemed a little surprised by the Acorn onslaught. But he added that his team never lost its composure.
“In the first half, it was like (the Acorns) were the No. 2-ranked team in the section and we were trying to beat them — it was almost a role reversal,” Hall said. “But that’s the thing about our team this year, this was probably the fourth or fifth game where we were down a goal, but we have the confidence to come back and we always think we’re going to win.”
Gilroy took control in the second half, scoring the go-ahead goal on senior Jorge Plata’s penalty kick after a disputed call.
Live Oak had a chance to tie the game on a penalty kick several minutes later, but sophomore Anthony Avalos’ try struck the crossbar and his rebound shot sailed high.
The Mustangs added to its lead on Alfonso Motagalvan’s goal to provide the final margin.
Live Oak’s defense seemed to lose a little focus in the second half, allowing the Gilroy offense led by senior Javier Hernandez — last year’s TCAL co-MVP — to control play.
The Acorns were missing injured sophomore defen-der Nick Mott, who was hurt in the final moments of the Salinas game last week.
“We’re young defensively, and that gets exposed against a great team,” Goble said. “And they are a great team.”
Live Oak is scheduled to play its next game at Hollister on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
