Gilroy defeats Live on Tuesday after battling to 1-1 tie over
the weekend
Gilroy – Remember the Alamo. Remember the Titans.
For the Gilroy girls soccer players Tuesday, it was “Remember Saturday.”
With a late 1-0 lead over the Acorns Saturday in the teams’ first of two meetings in three days, the Mustangs appeared to have the program’s first-ever Tri-County Athletic League win over the perennially powerful Acorns in their clutches. But in the final seconds of the game, Live Oak dashed those hopes with a goal. Live Oak defender Alayna Bongiorno dropped a corner kick right in front of the goal which midfielder Sara Whitling booted through traffic to end the game in a 1-1 tie.
“Live Oak is a 12-year champion for a reason,” said Gilroy head coach Jose Hernandez. “We had it, we had to learn how to hold it for two more minutes and that’s what we kept talking about.”
On Monday, the talking paid off. On their home turf, the Mustangs built another 1-0 lead. But this time, Gilroy fended off a late surge from the Acorns to get the milestone win.
“We were so mad after the game on Saturday when they scored and tied it up so we were really waiting for this to ‘make history,’ as the team has been calling it,” said Gilroy midfielder Stephanie Glenn, who scored the Mustangs’ only goal, even while battling a wracking cough.
Glenn got her chance with 25 minutes left in the game. The junior got the ball 15 yards out on the left wing, made a move to her right past the Live Oak defender in front of her, and fired a shot far-post into the net.
Live Oak got close to scoring on a couple opportunities in the final minutes, but Gilroy was able to clear the ball and preserve the win.
Said junior midfielder Amanda Bruce, “We’ve always had losses or ties and this is the first time we’ve ever beat them so it feels really good to be a part of it. We worked so hard for it.”
The Mustangs now sit at 7-4-4 overall and 6-0-2 in first-place in TCAL. Live Oak dropped to 3-4-5, 2-2-3 in league.
On Saturday, the Mustang offense struck quickly as they came out an pushed the ball up to Live Oak’s goal. Bruce dribbled the ball up the right sideline then found forward Jenny Loi, who booted into the Acorns’ goal to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the first half.
The rest of the game was a physical defensive battle as each team had opportunities to score, but couldn’t convert near the goal. Both the Acorns’ and Mustangs’ goalkeeper played well in goal for their teams, keeping the attacks at bay. Lorin Acker had seven saves in goal for Live Oak and Sara Hugo made six stops for Gilroy.
Late in the second half the Acorns’ attack was finally able to penetrate and find the back of the net on Whiting’s goal to tie the game at 1-1.
Less than a minute later the whistles blew, signaling the end of the game.
“This game gave us a little bit of confidence,” said Live Oak head coach Tony Vasquez. “They scored in the first two minutes, which I think was nerves and being unfocused on our part.”
Morgan Hill sports editor LeAnn Shea contributed to this article.
