MEGAN MEDLAND, LIVE OAK
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

February 24, 2013

Live Oak's trip to Santa Cruz County on Saturday was no day at the beach.

The Acorn girls soccer team fell to Santa Cruz 2-1 at Aptos High, ending Live Oak's season. Santa Cruz now advances to the semifinals, where it will take on surprising No. 13 seed The King's Academy Wednesday at Valley Christian (4:30 pm).

Live Oak took the upper hand when junior Alissa Pham scored in the 33rd minute.

“Every other cross that I tried to do kept curving toward the keeper, so with my shot I was like ‘I’m going for it. I’m just going to kick it and see where it goes. Hopefully it just keeps swerving in’ and it did,” said Pham, “We were up 1-0 and I was pumped. Everyone else was pumped and I had a lot of hope for us. I was really proud that we were able get the scoring going because we were like the underdogs. They’re the No. 1 team that is known to win. They’re supposed to win, which they did. They’re a good team.”

Santa Cruz kept its wits about it.

“It’s an 80-minute game. You stay ready,” said Santa Cruz coach Jay Gomez. “Giving up a goal -- that was a tough one. It’s all about the response. This team has been battling all year, so they’re ready for it.”

Still, Live Oak was confident, holding a 1-0 halftime lead. But soon momentum shifted as Sarah Landy scored for the Cardinals in the 54th minute, tying the game 1-1.

“We were coming off of a 1-0 deficit at the half and we were cruising a lot and just weren’t connecting our combination that we had been practicing a lot,” Landy said. “All of a sudden the energy just got up; we realized that we were down and this could be our last game. I saw the open shot and I took it. Luckily, I don’t know how it went through her legs, but it was a hard shot.”

Minutes later, Santa Cruz tallied again on a goal by Marin Dreglid.

“It was a deflection off the other team,” said Dreglid.

Added Landy: “(Leslie Calixto) dropped it and I just saw the open corner. That’s her spot."

Said Gomez: “I knew it was going to be a tough match. Thankfully this program has been in the finals a lot, so we certainly understand the CCS run and experience. I think that showed in the second half. I think there’s a sense of understanding what it takes to stay ready and plugged in. Fantastic goal from Marin, and that’s what it takes.”