Livingston boys get another shot at section glory. Wolves headed back to title game.
The Livingston High boys soccer team has been on a mission this season to get back to the Sac-Joaquin Section championship game.
The Wolves suffered a bitter 3-2 overtime loss to Galt last year on a controversial goal in the final seconds.
The second-seeded Wolves will get another shot at the title after defeating No. 3 seed Liberty Ranch 2-0 in Tuesday’s Division IV semifinal matchup at Livingston High. The Wolves will get a second chance against Galt in the section title game on Thursday at Tokay High at 5:30 p.m.
“Our main objective this year was to get back to the finals,” said Livingston co-head coach Art Pulido, whose team improved to 23-2-2 this season. “We’ve had a good season. Yeah, we’ve had some games where we didn’t play as well as we’d like. We lost to a good team in Hilmar, which won a section title.
“After that game, we talked about taking our focus to another level. Our focus has to get where it needs to be.”
The Hawks (22-3) definitely deserved Livingston’s full focus.
Other than the Hilmar loss in the regular season finale, Livingston cruised through the Trans-Valley League, outscoring their opponents 71 to 6 in their 11 TVL wins.
The Wolves then defeated Calaveras and Venture Academy by a combined score of 14-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Tuesday’s match was a nail-biter.
“Our league wasn’t as strong, so coming in the playoffs we knew it would be different,” said senior Julian Cabrera. “We knew we had to come out strong because we were going to get tested.”
It was Cabrera who gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead midway through the first half.
Livingston’s Carlos Valencia was fouled in the penalty box by Liberty Ranch’s Ernesto Becerra. That set up Cabrera for a penalty kick. The Wolves leading scorer deposited the ball in the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Cabrera said. “I felt good, I had confidence in myself.”
Cabrera had confidence for good reason. He came into the game with 38 goals on the season, which is tied for eighth in the state and tied for the top mark in the Sac-Joaquin Section.
Liberty Ranch had its opportunities to tie the match up. When the Hawks had good looks, they found a way to miss the posts left and right. When the shots were on frame, Livingston’s sophomore goalie Yareth Martinez was up to the task, finishing with 18 saves.
“Today was one of the days I was tested the most this season,” Martinez said. “There was a lot of pressure on me.”
Jose Balderas put the match away when he chipped a ball from the left side over the Liberty Ranch goalie Eduardo Landin and found the right corner of the net for a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute.
“The second goal hurt us,” said Hawks coach Andrew Fisher. “It was a bad time to give it up when we’re trying to come back. We had an unbelievably good season, it was a heck of a season. This is a tough loss.”
Girls Soccer Scoreboard
El Camino 9, Livingston 0 in Sacramento — The Wolves saw their season come to an end in the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs.
Hannah Gonzales-Moore and Camille Kistner both scored three goals for the Eagles, which jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the half.
Livingston finished with a 12-9 record.
Amador 2, Hilmar 1 in Sutter Creek — The Yellowjackets lost in the Division V semifinals to the top-seeded Buffaloes. Genavieve Fontes scored Hilmar’s lone goal and goalie Isabel Patterson finished with seven saves.
This story was originally published February 19, 2019 at 7:01 PM.
