Sailors recover, take third

NEWPORT BEACH — Newport Harbor High senior Mimi Bury took the pass into set as a pair of Corona del Mar defenders crashed in on her.

Bury, her back to the goal, had little time to turn around. Instead, she simply flipped the ball back over her head, the way an out-of-control basketball player might before crashing into court-side photographers.

Everything had been going Newport Harbor’s way, and it happened again. The ball went into the net, the eighth goal in the Sailors’ 9-3 onslaught over their Back Bay rivals in the Holiday Cup third-place game Saturday at Newport Harbor High.

It was a stark contrast to earlier in the day, when Newport Harbor suffered a 7-6 loss to eventual tournament champion Dos Pueblos in the semifinals, the Sailors’ first loss of the year. Corona del Mar, the Holiday Cup defending champion, fell in overtime to Foothill, 6-5, early Saturday afternoon to set up the all-Back Bay third-place game.

But, once there, Newport Harbor (8-1) came out fired up to defeat the Sea Kings (5-5) for the second time in eight days. The Tars also topped CdM in a nonleague game, 5-3, on Dec. 21. Last year, CdM had the upper hand, beating Harbor in the Holiday Cup title game.

“I think we were all upset that we lost this morning,” Sailors goalie Morgan Vickers said. “This afternoon, it was like, ‘Come back!’ ”

The Sailors did that, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead on a goal from seven meters out by Kaleigh Gilchrist and a backhand goal from Bury. CdM’s Kate Berry scored later in the first quarter to cut the deficit in half, but Newport Harbor kept working.

Mia Butera scored a lob goal from the left on a pass from Kimmy Morrison, and Erin Reid made a five-meter penalty shot with 57 seconds left in the half to stake Newport to a 4-1 halftime lead.

“It’s very nice to come back and show really good, hard effort after losing,” Sailors Coach Bill Barnett said. “You never know how a team is going to react after they lose, and they came out really fired up. It was nice to see. I think it shows a lot about their character.”

Amanda Simons scored from two meters on Jessica Robinson’s third-quarter pass, then Nicolina McCall scored twice as the Sailors won the game going away. It didn’t surprise CdM Coach Aaron Chaney, whose team also wasn’t helped because the overtime, semifinal loss to Foothill didn’t end until after 1 p.m. The third-place game started at 3 p.m.

“[Newport] would have done that to any team,” Chaney said. “I was surprised they lost to Dos Pueblos, and they came out [against CdM] with a statement to make. They just came out like gangbusters.”

McCall finished with a team-high three goals against CdM. For the Sea Kings, Margot Money, Allison Peotter and Victoria Kent each scored.

“I think we knew that they were really tired,” said Newport’s Robinson, who had two assists and two steals. “We wanted to counter a lot.”

In the first semifinal, Dos Pueblos topped the Sailors, who led early in the game on goals from Robinson and McCall. But the Chargers, behind freshman standout Kiley Neushul (four goals and two assists), rallied for a 4-3 halftime lead and never trailed in the second half.

The Sailors were forced to play much of it without Bury, who received her third exclusion and was ejected early in the third quarter. Gilchrist’s goal late in the quarter tied the game at 6-6, but Dos Pueblos’ Alex Hill scored what would be the fourth quarter’s only goal with 5:51 left.

Newport Harbor’s final attempt was blocked with 20 seconds to play.

“We had three or four counterattacks where we didn’t have a good shot, but we took the shot anyway, instead of working the ball,” Barnett said. “Very impatient, and our shooting wasn’t very good.”

CdM’s semifinal against Foothill was also back and forth. The Sea Kings were losing, 5-4, before CdM’s Elise Molnar spun her defender and scored from two meters with 20 seconds left in regulation. But Foothill’s Brittany Zwirner (three goals) scored the game-winner on a penalty shot in the first overtime period.

The defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion Knights are 4-0 against CdM over the last two years, the last three victories coming in overtime.

Dos Pueblos won the Holiday Cup championship, defeating Foothill, 7-5.

Holiday Cup

Third-place game

Newport Harbor 9, Corona del Mar 3

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM – Money 1, Peotter 1, Kent 1. Saves – Baldoni 5.

NH – McCall 3, Bury 2, Simons 1, Reid 1, Butera 1, Gilchrist 1. Saves – Vickers 7.

Semifinal

Dos Pueblos 7, Newport Harbor 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

DP – Neushul 4, A. Hill 2, Redfern 1. Saves – S. Hill 13.

NH – McCall 3, Simons 1, Robinson 1, Gilchrist 1. Saves – Vickers 4.

Semifinal

Foothill 6, Corona del Mar 5 (OT)

SCORE BY PERIODS

CdM – Molnar 2, Van Hiel 1, Kennedy 1, Kaczmarek 1. Saves – Baldoni 13.

F – Zwirner 3, Bustard 1, Klug 1, Krumpholz 1. Saves – Avetoom 5.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].