BOYS SOCCER: Soquel Falls to Live Oak in CCS Semifinals

Live Oak 2, Soquel 1

The Star: The big stage didn’t seem to bother Soquel High freshman Lynden Gooch. In fact, the rising star seemed to revel under the intense circumstances. The underclassman scored one goal and nearly had a few more Wednesday night at Gilroy High. However, the No. 6 seeded Live Oak squad patiently waited for its chances and made Gooch and senior sniper Enrique Fragozo work hard for everything in the middle of the field.

Live Oak scored goals in the 29th and 44th minutes to advance on to the Central Coast Section Division III Finals with a 2-1 victory over Soquel. Live Oak will play red-hot No. 1 seed Santa Cruz High on Saturday afternoon. It’s the first finals appearance in 12 years for the Acorns.

The Turning Point: With a 1-0 lead already in its pocket, Live Oak came out looking for more early in the second half. Their aggression was rewarded four minutes into the half. One shot rung off the cross bar before Alejandro Diaz headed the ball home to put his team up 2-0 44 minutes into the match.

The Quote:  “We were playing some good football early,” Soquel head coach Paul Gooch said about his teams promising start in the first half. “The boys worked very hard. You just make one mental mistake and you’re down one-nil just like that. The goal early in the second half hurt us. If we could have stayed only one goal down, things may have turned out differently for us.”

 This was the first year as head coach for Gooch at Soquel. The No. 10 seeded Knights upset No. 7 Sacred Heart Prep 3-2 in round one and then stunned No. 2 seed Half Moon Bay 2-1 in overtime over the weekend.

 “I’m very proud of the boys,” Gooch said. “No one expected us to go this far. They never gave up.”

 What's Next? Soquel finished the season 11-8-1 overall. Live Oak will play Santa Cruz Saturday morning at Gilroy High for the CCS D-III championship.

Bottom Line: Lynden Gooch and Enrique Fragozo each had chances to strike first in the first 20 minutes of play. After Live Oak settled down and began to pay some extra attention to both players, the counter attack hurt the Knights badly. Live Oak scored two goals in a span of 15 minutes, putting the underdogs in a hole that they were unable to dig out of.

Gooch bent a pretty direct kick into the top corner of the cage in the 56th minute for the lone Knights goal of the game. He nearly evened things up just over 20 minutes later. The dangerous freshman flew through the midfield and unloaded a blistering shot that buzzed wide right of the far post.

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