Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Live Oak all drop openers in CCS
showdowns
With the conclusion of the Central Coast Section playoffs last
night, the 2005-2006 high school soccer season has officially come
to a close.
Unfortunately for all of the teams in the Tri County Athletes
League, the season ended even sooner than that
– as not a single boys’ or girls’ team from any of the local
schools advanced past the opening round of the playoffs – somewhat
surprising considering the number of good teams in the TCAL.
Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Live Oak all drop openers in CCS showdowns
With the conclusion of the Central Coast Section playoffs last night, the 2005-2006 high school soccer season has officially come to a close.
Unfortunately for all of the teams in the Tri County Athletes League, the season ended even sooner than that – as not a single boys’ or girls’ team from any of the local schools advanced past the opening round of the playoffs – somewhat surprising considering the number of good teams in the TCAL.
One of those teams was the league champion Acorns of Live Oak that captured the boys’ title before entering the post season as the No. 9 seed.
But the Acorns, which were led by Garrett Frechette and Anthony Avalos, wound up being ousted by No. 8 seed Archbishop Mitty 3-0 in the opening round of the section’s Division II playoffs.
In Division I play, it wasn’t a surprise that North Salinas, the No. 16 seed, succumbed to No. 1 seed Watsonville 4-0 in the first round. But it was a surprise that Gilroy High boys’ team, a perennial CCS contender, didn’t make the playoffs at all.
“It’s something amazing,” said San Benito High coach Juan Martinez. “I think it all amounts to the losing of key players. It looks like Gilroy and Live Oak are getting weaker every year. I’m surprised that Live Oak lost, but I’m not 100 percent in shock. They had some problems winning against us and made a lot of mistakes.”
And the failure of the Live Oak girls’ team to make the playoffs was an even greater surprise to most pundits of the league.
“That was the biggest surprise,” said Gilroy High girls soccer coach Jose Hernandez. “I don’t know what happened to them. They finished fifth in league after winning 12 league titles in a row.”
Next year the league will be without Live Oak and Sobrato High as the two Morgan Hill schools will begin competing in San Jose’s Blossom Valley Athletic League.
In order to make up for the loss, Alisal and Everett Alvarez High Schools, which used to compete against all of the TCAL teams when they were all in the Monterey Bay League together, will rejoin their former foes in the TCAL next year.
“It’s not going to be a tougher league next year. It’s not going to be that strong, probably about the same,” said Martinez, whose team finished fifth this year in the TCAL. “I’m not going to promise anything but I think we’ll be fighting for first or second place next year.”
Although Hernandez’s squad lost in the opening round of the playoffs too, he believes that the Gilroy girls soccer program is headed in the right direction.
“Before I took over the program three years ago, Gilroy went to the playoffs just once in the previous 20 years,” he said. “We’ve now made it back-to-back years.”
The Gilroy girls’ team finished the season with a record of 8-6-5 and slipped into the playoffs as the No. 11 seed before losing 5-1 to No. 6 seed Santa Teresa in the opener.
Gilroy High might have won that game had the league’s co-defense MVP, Kendra Sato, and the league’s most valuable midfielder, Amanda Bruce, not been injured.
“Losing two starters in that game really hurt us. It made a big difference,” Hernandez said. “We lost Amanda early in the second half and then just cooled off.”
The only other girls’ Division I team to make the postseason was North Salinas. The Vikings entered the section tournament as the No. 10 seed before losing 3-1 to No. 7 seed Evergreen Valley.
“That was a B League against another B League match up,” Hernandez said. “We played an A League team. That’s why I set up the preseason schedule against A League teams so that we’d be ready. In the preseason, we played Presentation, Scott’s Valley, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos. They all made it to the second round of the playoffs.”
Another surprise this year was performance of the Gilroy High boys’ soccer team. Two years ago the Mustangs advanced to the CCS championship game. They made the playoffs the last three years. This year they finished third in league with a record of 8-3-1, just missing the playoffs.
“We had only three seniors on the team. We lacked maturity, experience and confidence,” said Gilroy coach Brian Hall. “We did well against the hard teams but struggled against the average teams.”
Unlike some of the other coaches in league, Hall wasn’t as surprised to see the Acorn boys’ team make an early exit from the playoffs.
“I think the quality of play went down this year in the whole league,” Hall said. “Avalos and Frechette kept that team up there together and they also had several injuries. When you lose one or two players at key positions, it makes a large impact. Next year Alisal and Alvarez are coming in. Alisal has a strong program and they will pressure everyone to raise their standard of play. We should see that next year.”
