SAN JOSE, CA – Live Oak traveled up to San Jose Tuesday evening for a match with Pioneer, but did not come out victorious, falling 1-0.
Pioneer caught the Acorns off guard right from the opening whistle with an aggressive offensive attack, forcing them to play very defensively. The tough effort paid off in the 20th minute when a cross from Roy Blume went in to Andrew Kettle cutting in front of the goal. Kettle’s cut pulled the goalie out from the net, allowing the ball to scoot by the scuffle with Kettle, the keeper, and another defender and into the net, giving Pioneer a 1-0 lead.
“I’m not sure if he touched it, but if he wasn’t there we wouldn’t have scored,” said Blume. “He screened the goalie so he couldn’t see it, then it bounced in.”
“I think I might have gotten a nick on it (the ball). I think it might have skimmed my hair, I don’t know. But I was in the right place at the right time, and that’s what happened,” Kettle said.
From there on out, Pioneer played lock-down defense and minimized Live Oak’s offensive opportunities, holding the Acorns to eight shots in the entire game and just three on goal. In the second half, the Mustangs defense prevented the opponent from recording a shot for the first 20 minutes of play, thanks to the increasingly aggressive offensive attack of Pioneer.
Chris Takeuchi led the second half push for Pioneer, helping to keep Live Oak off the board. An extremely versatile player, coach Nick Hoffman was able to place Takeuchi anywhere on the field Tuesday. The midfielder placed a couple shots on goal, but never found the back of the net.
“I was talking with my coaches and I said ‘Chris is going to be a Swiss army knife today’,” said Hoffman. “He can play in a lot of different positions. I used him on the outside, I used him up front, I can use him in the middle ... there's a lot of different places I can put him.
“I was a little upset that he didn’t get one in (the net) because he deserved one the way he played.”
Live Oak was provided with its best changes, and two of its three shots on goal, late in the second half, when the quick style of play Pioneer was maintaining began to slow down. The Acorns began pushing the ball towards the box, but still had trouble creating opportunities.
“We had some good opportunities to score. We were unable to capitalize on that, its unfortunate. Someone had to win it,” said coach Ben Alvarez. “1-0? I’ll take it, they’re a good team. It could’ve gone either way.”
The loss drops Live Oak to 4-6-2 (1-3-1) and keeps them towards the bottom of the heap in the West Valley Division of the BVAL. Pioneer improves to 6-3-3 (4-1-1) and remains in contention for the league title.
Live Oak returns home on Thursday and will take on first place Del Mar, while Pioneer goes on the road to take on Independence. Both games get underway at 5 p.m.
