The Live Oak girls soccer team celebrated their senior night with a 2-1 win over rival Sobrato.
Much like the first time these teams played, Sobrato controlled the first half. Freshman Kayla King scored the lone goal.
“We got it off a free kick and my good friend (Rebekah Inouye) did a fake and I was able to get it in. It was a good foul and a good goal," King said.
Sobrato led 1-0 at the half, but it was destined to be shut down for the rest of the game.
“I think we just didn’t come out the way we came out the first half. That’s just something we learn from and get better from and go from there,” said King.
Towards the middle of the second half, Live Oak senior and captain Sydney Barker scored to tie the game.
“Alissa (Pham) threw in the ball and it bounced off a couple girls and went through a couple girls and nobody touched it. Luckily their goalie missed it and I happened to be in the perfect location. I just smacked it as hard as I possibly could because I wanted to score,” said Barker. “It went to the back of the net. That was awesome especially since it was my senior game.
"I’m really proud of all of our girls. At halftime I was really frustrated because we were down. Luckily everyone brought it second half and had the most energy ever. After I scored my goal everyone just wanted to go at it. Everyone was pressing really hard in the second half, which was beautiful. Our whole team came together wonderfully.”
A few minutes later, Pham scored the winning goal.
“I think Jada Williams passed it to me,” said Pham. “She just randomly kicked it and then I turned and I saw the goal so I shot it. I’ve scored a goal against them every time we’ve played them for the past two years now.”
Added Sobrato coach Paul Nishimatsu: “It was a really good game. It was really competitive. Sometimes you have great shots and they had the ability to do that today, but so did we. It was kind of back and forth. It’s always a fun game when we play Live Oak and the girls played really well.”
Sobrato (3-12-3, 1-9-3 BVAL-MH) did not qualify for CCS, but its coach is already looking toward the future.
“We’re graduating four seniors this year and we have eight freshmen on the roster, so I think we’ll be in pretty good shape for next year,” said Nishimatsu. “We’ll stay in the 'A' division.”
The loss was Sobrato's fourth consecutive.
Live Oak (6-8-1, 6-5-1 BVAL-MH) now advances to CCS, where it will take on Sacred Heart Prep in an opening-round match Wednesday.
