In strolling the sidelines at Tuesday’s boys soccer matinee between Live Oak and San Benito, I began pondering a question that touches on athletic competition at any level. While a loss is always a loss, is a loss also always a defeat?
Or, simply put, is there such a thing as a moral victory?
The Tri-County Athletic League contest in Hollister the other day looked to be the classic match-up of teams heading in opposite directions.
Mighty Live Oak entered the game having outscored its opponents by a margin of 28-2 in rolling to an 8-0-2 start. The Acorns, runners-up in last season’s Central Coast Section playoffs, have had their way with TCAL opponents for years, suffering just two league losses over the past three full seasons.
Meanwhile, San Benito struggled out of the gates yet again. The Haybalers, winners of just one TCAL game in 2004-05, promptly dropped their first two league contests this season. In attempting to right a ship that has been in disarray, San Benito head coach Juan Carlos Martinez has identified commitment and teamwork as the primary items on the ‘Balers’ agenda, qualities that he hopes will eventually lead to success on the field.
If there ever was a game that looked to be a mismatch, the Acorns-‘Balers contest fit the bill.
But someone forgot to tell San Benito to stay home.
After surviving three point-blank shots by their visitors in the game’s first two minutes, the ‘Balers quickly took control of the ball and the game. Crisp passing and spreading the ball to space allowed San Benito to play at its tempo, but its will to win was what made the true difference.
The ‘Balers’ determination resulted in winning an inordinate number of the 50-50 balls and matching the powerful Acorns with five first-half shots.
When San Benito’s Allan Nieves took a cross from teammate Oscar Lostanau in the 24th minute and headed the ball into Live Oak’s net, the ‘Balers gained more than a 1-0 lead. The score gave them a floodgate’s worth of momentum and confidence.
From the opening kickoff, San Benito had played as if it belonged on the same field as the Acorns. But now, the ‘Balers had penetrated the vaunted Live Oak defense. Nieves’ goal marked only the third score the Acorns had allowed in their 11 games.
“We weren’t expecting to score,” said Martinez, the San Benito coach.
Live Oak regrouped to score and send the game to a 1-1 draw at halftime, but that only amped up the intensity of the contest–and the ‘Balers’ determination to upset their visitors. The five yellow cards and one red card that the teams combined to receive showed, among other things, just how heated that battle became.
Though it was Live Oak that ultimately prevailed in a 2-1 outcome–fittingly, by scoring on a penalty-aided free kick in the 66th minute–both teams knew that the contest easily could have swung the other way.
That brings us back to the question du jour–is there such a thing as a moral victory?
To listen to the ‘Balers, there absolutely is. No one expected them to win (and they didn’t), but they walked away knowing that they could have won and almost did win.
Penalties aside, Martinez was thrilled with his team’s effort.
“I was thinking to myself [beforehand] that they were going to beat us big-time,” said Martinez. “They’re undefeated–we know they’re No. 1. I was happy with how [we] played. We were winning and they got frustrated. I was expecting a lot more scores from them.”
Live Oak certainly knew it was fortunate to leave Hollister with a victory in hand.
“The other team wanted it more than we did–it was pretty obvious the entire 80 minutes,” said Acorns head coach Tony Goble. “I told the kids, ‘Yeah, we kind of dodged one today.'”
While it’s going too far to say the ‘Balers won by losing, it’s not tough to see what they gained by pushing Live Oak to the limit.
“As high as they’re rated, it’s a confidence builder,” said San Benito goalie Eddie Trujillo.
The phenomenon of a moral victory, real or imagined, is up for debate on a near-daily basis in the sporting world.
When the lowly San Francisco 49ers came within a missed two-point conversion of taking the eventual NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks to overtime last fall, did they walk off the field feeling good about their performance? They must have. But does that constitute a moral victory?
On a local level, did Gilroy’s field hockey team make a statement by advancing deep into the CCS playoffs last fall? Of course. But does that mean that the Mustangs had already scored a moral victory before even taking the field against Mitty in the semifinals? Maybe. And did their 2-0 defeat to the eventual co-champion Monarchs have any bearing on that feeling?
Or in Morgan Hill on Tuesday night, did Live Oak’s boys basketball team realize some type of victory despite losing to highly-touted Gilroy in an overtime thriller? Did the Acorns prove something tangible to themselves or others by merely forcing Gilroy to knock down two free throws with less than a second left in regulation just to send the game to an extra period?
Obviously, nearly upsetting a more accomplished opponent leaves the underdog with at least a marginally positive feeling. Just how much depends on the disparity between the teams, among other things.
So what if a moral victory is a somewhat twisted way for a losing individual or team to rationalize a defeat? The victor doesn’t care, so why should anyone else?
At the local level, sports are more about proving something to and about yourself.
In that light, a moral victory must lie in the eye of the beholder.
Is it real or imagined? You tell me.
