With two minutes left in the game, Live Oak enjoyed a two-goal lead when Christopher called a time out.
What ensued was a wild 120 seconds that saw the Acorn lead fall to one, Christopher threaten to tie with no time on the clock and Angelea Boots standing tall to preserve a 4-3 Live Oak victory.
Coming out of the break, the Cougars went on the offensive, pushing the action to the Acorn net. Christopher eventually earned a short corner setting up Sherelle Butler who launched a shot from the near side to score with 53 seconds left in the game.
“That had to be the prettiest goal I’ve seen off a corner, the one that Sherelle did,” said CHS coach Lia Peterson. “That practiced Tuesday and that’s what they practiced were these corners to get it right. I will tell you that was perfect, text book corner if you ever saw one.”
That set up a wild rush in the final seconds that included Live Oak having to defend two short corners after time expired.
When the dust settled, the Acorns emerged 4-3 winners.
“It was unfortunate we weren’t able to keep the energy in the last two minutes because it was one of our goals,” said coach Gina Sanders. “We were trying to compete the whole game; trying to play the whole game instead of 48 minutes of it.”
Sanders said it was a good learning lesson for the girls about standing tough even when things don’t go as expected.
She said the foul called in the final minute that led to the Christopher goal looked like it should have been against the Cougars, but it was still up to the girls to not allow an official’s decision affect how they play.
“If that’s what they call, that’s what they call,” Sanders said. “You just have to swallow it and be, well, ‘you shouldn’t have called that and I’m going to show you why.’”
On the other side, Peterson said she was happy to see the team rally together and have a strong look at stealing a tie.
“I just said, ‘you guys have to rally up and keep it on the other end if you want to have a chance,’” Peterson said. “And they certainly pulled it off. It was no strategy on my part.”
Live Oak started strong thanks to some strong passing in front of the Christopher cage that set up Allyse Styczynski in the ninth minute for an early 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Taylor Dempsey scored the first of her two goals in the game for a 2-0 lead in the 12th minute.
While the Acorns put solid pressure on the Cougar net, Christopher did the same on the other end.
The Cougars got on the board when Isabel Medina launched a pass into the back of the cage in the 17th minute.
Christopher kept the pressure going and eventually tied the game when Melanie Tanaka drove a rebound home in the 25th minute.
But Dempsey made sure Live Oak went into halftime just two minutes later when she launched the go-ahead goal for a 3-2 lead.
“We came out with some intensity today. We’re trying to set the tone,” Sanders said. “Teams think they have an idea of who they’re playing. We just want to set the tone and let them know this is who we are: we come out hard; we come out to pass; we come out to play.”
In the second half, both sides had opportunities, but both keepers defended their nets, even if Christopher’s netminder was under the weather.
“I think the defense knew she was sick before I did,” Peterson said.
But Ally Salzwedel gave Live Oak insurance in the 23rd minute when she tapped in a rebound for a 4-2 lead.
Live Oak will next travel to Monte Vista 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Christopher, meanwhile, kicks off Mission Trail League play at Monterey 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
