MEGAN MEDLAND, LIVE OAK
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

February 2, 2013

Friday afternoon in Morgan Hill, the Sobrato and Pioneer girls soccer teams tied 0-0. This marks the second time this season the teams tied. The first time they played, the score was 1-1, but both teams have suffered injuries since then.

“The teams were just matched well," Pioneer coach Randy Worthington said. "We were both beat up. We both lost some key players this week, but they played hard and nobody gave up.”

The Bulldogs have only tied three times, but the Mustangs have now been deadlocked five times.

“In general when you have a tie it means that you were really well matched,” said Sobrato coach Paul Nishimatsu. “But I think we had more opportunities than they did. I expected exactly what happened. I was almost positive it would be a close game. It was a matter of who was going to get lucky."

According to Nishimatsu, the Bulldogs have been very close to breaking through lately.

"We’ve been very unlucky the past three games. During three minutes of an 80-minute game we break down," he said. "But today we didn’t break down and we played pretty solid. I’m switching people around because of injuries. They did really well trying to adapt to their different positions.”

Sobrato (3-8-3, 1-5-3 BVAL-MH) stays in sixth place in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division race.

As the champions of the Santa Teresa "B" Division last year, the Mustangs (6-4-7, 2-2-5) have struggled in their move back to "A" league.

“The girls are just as competitive in the 'B' league as 'A' league; it’s just a little faster and more aggressive," Worthington said. "We’re adjusting to it. We’re trying to learn how to win."

Added Mustang center mid Jessica Jochheim: “We couldn’t get it into the net because we’re not shooting.

Offered Jochheim's teammate Kassidy Ellenberger: “Now it’s hard to score. It’s mostly a defensive game. We can’t it in the net. We keep passing around the net instead of just taking it ourselves. We need to take a chance and shoot it; that’s the only way we’re going to score.”

Pioneer is now in fourth place.

“They’re a good team," said Sobrato senior Rebekah Inouye. "But I knew we could have beat them. We had our opportunities, but we just didn’t capitalize. I’m happy with a tie, but I would have been happier with a win. We did pretty well on defense; I think they only had one real opportunity to score. We held them off defensively and for offense, we had a lot of crosses and we had a lot of shots on goal. We just didn’t finish them perfectly. But it happens; its soccer.”