Senior lifts first-place Acorns to 2-1 win in field hockey
MORGAN HILL
Catherine Sparling scored the winning goal and had an assist on her 18th birthday Wednesday to push Live Oak past St. Ignatius 2-1 in a crucial Santa Teresa Division field hockey game.
The Acorns (9-2 league) remained a game ahead in first place by beating one of three second-place teams they will face in their final four regular-season contests. The league champion receives an invite to the Central Coast Section playoffs, a feat Live Oak came agonizingly close to fulfilling the past three years.
“I’m not even thinking about the playoffs right now. We’re just focused on winning our next game,” Acorns coach Gina Sanders said. “It’s so tight right now. I’m telling the girls to play like its their last game every day.”
Sparling scored off a corner with less than three minutes remaining. Anisha Patel set it up, playing Michaela Swenson’s pass that deflected off a referee. Patel centered the ball to Sparling, and the senior forward buried it in the cage.
St. Ignatius (7-3-1) scored early in the first half and was in command until Danielle Horning one-timed a pass from Sparling to tie it 1-1. Playing the ball from 20 yards out, Sparling drew defenders away from Horning then cleanly fed the ball toward the open side of the cage.
“It was a good, solid shot,” Sanders said. “It was an awesome sound when the ball hit the back of the cage.”
GIRLS TENNIS
Sobrato earned its first Blossom Valley Athletic League team-playoff victory in sweeping style Wednesday, beating Hill 7-0 to open the Mount Hamilton Division tournament at Leland High.
The Bulldogs did not lose a set. Their singles winners were Alexis Whitaker, Alexa Watanabe, Ali Pecsok and Emerald Nguyen, and the winning doubles teams were Amy Morimoto-Allison Stoner, Allison Bettencourt-Mica Schenkelberg and Amanda Alipaz-Nemerta Cherra.
CROSS COUNTRY
Sobrato junior Sarah Gilbert placed third overall in her first Santa Teresa cross country meet this season Friday as the Bulldogs beat Piedmont Hills 25-31 to wrap up a 3-4 finish in league dual meets.
Gilbert, who placed 18th in last year’s CCS Division II meet and missed the previous meets this fall for academic reasons, covered the 2.95-mile course at Montgomery Hill in 19 minutes, 41 seconds — less than a minute behind winner Yaritza Barajas of Oak Grove.
The meet was the final warm-up before Monday’s BVAL Finals.
Sobrato senior Winston van Keulen was in top-five form once again, finishing second on the boys side in 16:16 to help the Bulldogs beat Piedmont Hills 18-44. Teammate Derek Diesenroth (16:50) placed eighth.
The Sobrato boys placed third in league at 5-2.
