Four starters sit out for missing practices, but rest of team
battles to 2-2 tie against SBHS
Andrea Riolo is Live Oak’s top goal scorer this year in league
play, which is telling since she also happens to be the Acorns
starting goalie.
It doesn’t make much sense. But with four starters getting
benched this past week for missing practices, Live Oak girls soccer
coach Tony Vasquez moved Riolo to forward and the senior keeper
responded with a pair of goals.
Four starters sit out for missing practices, but rest of team battles to 2-2 tie against SBHS
Andrea Riolo is Live Oak’s top goal scorer this year in league play, which is telling since she also happens to be the Acorns starting goalie.
It doesn’t make much sense. But with four starters getting benched this past week for missing practices, Live Oak girls soccer coach Tony Vasquez moved Riolo to forward and the senior keeper responded with a pair of goals.
One of them helped the Acorns pick up a 2-2 tie in the league opener against San Benito High on Tuesday.
While Vasquez is pleased with the offensive efforts by his senior goalie, he hasn’t been overly thrilled with the chemistry of this year’s team, which is vying for its umpteenth league title in a row.
“We just don’t have the consistency right now,” said Vasquez, who has won the league every year during the past seven years that he has been at the helm of the program. “I think the splitting of the high schools (Sobrato and Live Oak) has really drained the talent pool, but it’s not an excuse. We’re just not playing well. We were up 2-0 but we had no intensity in the second half. Hollister (San Benito) just wanted it more.”
In fact no team in the league probably wants it more than the Balers, which have not beaten Live Oak in the four years that Mike Schurig has coached the Balers.
“We tied them up and we almost won,” the San Benito coach said. “We had won a corner kick that we almost scored on that would have been the go-ahead goal, but we didn’t. They are a kind of a dynasty and have won league every year they’ve been in it. Every year we tie them but we always seem to lose the other game with them. Our goal this year is to not lose that second game”
The two league rivals will meet again on Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m. at San Benito High. The Balers will have home-field advantage for that showdown but the Acorns will have a full roster again.
In Tuesday’s contest, Live Oak took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Riolo and went ahead 2-0 when center midfielder Amanda Whitling scored before the half.
With Riolo in the field, the Acorns started senior backup goalie Lorin Ackers in net.
In the opening half, Live Oak controlled play and put together a solid defensive scheme that prevented the Balers from penetrating deeply into Live Oak’s side of the field.
In the second half, Schurig made some adjustments to his lineup that paid off.
“They say a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead to have in soccer because one team eases up and the other has nothing to lose,” he said. “We were too hesitant in the first half and didn’t seem to push the ball up enough so I moved some people around to strengthen our midfield.”
Schurig moved starting sweeper Janessa Gillies to the outside midfield position in order to accentuate her speed in the open field.
“Her speed and ball control made a big difference, and our right side became much faster,” Schurig said.
Felicia Frietas was also substituted in and out during the game in the outside midfield slot before Schurig chose to move her to forward.
With added penetration, it was just a matter of time before the Acorns lead dwindled down.
The Balers first goal came when Rachel Maheu took a pass from Brittany Huth and sent it past Ackers for the score.
Twenty minutes later, the Balers knotted the game when Jacqueline Clayton took a free kick that the Live Oak defense headed back out into the field of play right in front of Huth, who was breaking for the goal. Huth then drilled the shot into the back of the net to tie the game.
A year ago the Acorns lost to Santa Teresa in the Central Coast Section quarterfinals. The year prior, Live Oak was named co-champions of the CCS after battling through three overtime periods to a tie against Leland High School.
In order to get back to the playoffs, Vasquez says that his perennial powerhouse Acorns need to show more tenacity on the field and get in better physical shape.
“I gave them a week off at Christmas,” he said. “I normally don’t do that. And for this game they looked really flat out there. We need to get in game shape.”
