Gilroy issued nine cards in heated 2-1 home loss to neighboring
rival Live Oak.
GILROY – The Gilroy-Live Oak rivalry added another heated chapter Thursday night as the unbeaten Mustang boys soccer squad hosted the undefeated Acorns inside Mustang Stadium.
The Tri-County Athletic League contest – which saw Live Oak steal a 2-1 victory on a late second-half goal off the head of senior forward Sergio Avila – was a back-and-forth, up-and-down physical clash with tons of skill displayed by both sides. But an on-field scuffle as well as a slew of yellow and red cards overshadowed the classic confrontation.
“That’s what happens when two of the best go out there to battle to the end,” said striker Javier Hernandez, who plays club soccer with some of the Live Oak players. “They’re a lot stronger than the other teams, but it’s good practice. It gets us stronger for next time. Next time we’re going to bring it to them even more.”
This time, however, the Mustangs lost their cool once the 1-1 tie score was broken by Avila with 10 minutes remaining.
On the far side of the field away from the team benches, Gilroy wing Oscar Garcia and Live Oak midfielder Hussein Abdullahi got in each other’s face and exchanged words. Then, Mustangs senior captain Horacio Arteaga flew in and separated them – but in doing so pushed Abdullahi back.
“I tried to go over and pull them apart. I didn’t mean to push him hard,” said Arteaga of the incident. “So the ref just came over and gave me a red card. What are you going to do about it?”
There were no cards issued to any Live Oak players.
Two unruly fans on the opposing stands jumped over the fence and stepped up to the field during the altercation. They were later escorted off school premises by security.
Before action returned, Gilroy’s Alfonso Mata was given a second yellow card and removed from the game with a soft red – which does not warrant a game suspension like Arteaga’s infraction for pushing another player.
“It was really intense the whole game,” senior fullback Scott Martin said. “Everyone is going hard. Someone gets bumped a little. They’re getting frustrated because the intensity on the field was really high throughout the game.”
When the game continued on, the physical aspect took over as Gilroy and Live Oak players bumped and tussled for every fifty-fifty ball. The cards soon started to fly again as Mustang striker Jorge Plata was issued a red card for retaliating to a push by Live Oak’s Anthony Razouk. Then, Gilroy’s Evev De Leon Diaz received a yellow card for apparently mouthing off to an official.
In an effort to save any more of his players from getting carded and before things started to escalate, Gilroy head coach Albert Marquez convinced one of the officials to call the game with time left.
“I really feel like the referee took this one away from us. Probably, the first time ever in a Gilroy High game,” Coach Marquez said. “It’s interesting because one ref gave seven yellow cards, three red cards and the other ref gave zero yellow cards, zero red cards. It speaks for itself.”
Gilroy (3-1-1 in T-CAL) received nine cards from the same official, while Live Oak (4-0 in T-CAL) escaped with only one.
“We’ve got to work on some attitudes – because we can’t have this happen again,” fullback Danny MacPhail said. “We’ve got to work hard in practice. We had a couple of bad days in practice last week and that could have had something to do with it.”
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Arteaga one-timed a cross from Garcia into the net only nine minutes in.
Live Oak answered back seven minutes later when Hussein Abdullahi pushed a rebound goal past Gilroy keeper Ernesto Torres – who had made an amazing diving save on a blast from Razouk.
“I thought both teams played really fair. It was a real equal game on both sides,” Marquez said. “I thought we had more chances and they just put their opportunities away.”
Although the Mustangs supplied a lot of pressure on the offensive end, it was the Acorns who finally cracked the 1-1 tie with 10 minutes to go. On a free kick from 30 yards out, Live Oak senior Cesar Serrano sent a ball in front – where Avila was waiting with a header to the back of the net.
“They were good forwards. They knew what they were doing,” said MacPhail of the Live Oak attack. “I think we handled them pretty well. They got a couple of goals off set pieces. Other then that they didn’t get a goal going down the field.”
The rest of the game was marred by altercations and cards, as the Mustangs could not get another good look on net.
“We’re just going to have to go and look as a team, really look down and see the kind of character this team is made of,” Martin said, “and come back next week hopefully pick up a couple of victories.”
Still in the thick of the league title hunt, Gilroy returns to action Jan. 28 on the road against Salinas at 5 p.m.
“We played a good team. That happens,” said Hernandez, following the heated contest. “We’ll bounce back.”
