The San Benito girls soccer team won the Watsonville Turkey Tournament last week, beating host Watsonville 3-0 in the championship final on Saturday. Hannah Cobb scored all three goals for the Lady 'Balers. (Photo submitted by Eric Grimes)
Three games and the Thanksgiving holiday - all in one week, no less.
That may have finally been enough for the San Benito girls soccer team, which lost its first game of the season on Monday after rifling off seven straight games without a defeat.
Playing at home for the first time this season, the Lady 'Balers lost 3-1 to Live Oak on Monday.
"I think they were a little bit tired," San Benito coach Ben Alvarez said. "[Live Oak] played a good game. You can't take that away from them. They have a good team. But we got tired and that's the way it is."
The Lady 'Balers, which are now 6-1-1 on the year, won the Watsonville Turkey Tournament last week when they bested Pacific Grove 3-0 in the semifinals, then downed Watsonville 3-0 in the championship final on Saturday.
Hannah Cobb scored five of the team's six goals in those two games, and teammate Monique Bishop added the other toward San Benito's tournament victory.
With only a day in between Saturday's tournament championship and Monday's non-conference match-up, though, the Lady 'Balers simply couldn't maintain their aggressive attack all game against Live Oak.
Averaging 25 shots on net in each of their games so far, the Lady 'Balers could only muster 10 against the Acorns.
"You can dominate 99 percent of the time," Alvarez said, "but if you take only 10 shots, guaranteed only one will go in."
In one of their first shots in the game against Live Oak, though, San Benito found the back of the net when multiple defenders crashed toward Hannah Cobb on the right side.
With the ball on its way out of bounds, Cobb made a sliding cross pass to the left side and away from defenders, where Yaira Lizarraga was wide open and pocketed the game's first goal at the 5th minute.
"We played the first 15 minutes very, very well," Alvarez said. "I don't think they were expecting us to come out that hard.
"But once we allowed them to gain control of the center, they took over."
Although San Benito scored within the first five minutes of the game, the Acorns responded with three unanswered goals.
Live Oak tied it at 1-all when Amanda Morgan boomed a free kick from the midfield to inside San Benito's 18, where multiple attackers were awaiting. The ball squirted out to the right side, however, and Fabiola Diaz punched in the equalizer in the 36th minute.
Knotted at halftime, Live Oak senior Julia Hartl supplied her team with the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute on assists from Megan Rauschnot and Morgan.
The Lady 'Balers had their chances late in the contest to tie it at 2-all, including a wide-open shot in the waning minutes, but couldn't capitalize.
Coupled with their fatigue, the Lady 'Balers were without Samantha Moreno (injury), while JC Clayton left the game early with tightness in her thigh.
"That kind of hurt us a little bit," Alvarez said.
San Benito will look to return to form on Thursday when Pacific Collegiate visits Hollister at 3:30 p.m.
SAN BENITO HIGH BOYS SOCCER
The San Benito boys soccer team's scheduled match against King City was rained out last Wednesday at home.
The game has not been rescheduled.
The Haybalers (0-3) will visit Gonzales on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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