Boys’ Soccer: Sailors stun Edison, take first
Game day is what every team looks forward to, but for the Newport Harbor High boys’ soccer program, game day also means its players get to sleep in. When they don’t have a match, the Sailors rise out of bed early to start training at school at 6 in the morning.
On Friday, the Sailors’ alarm clocks went off later. They got an extra hour of rest. They had to be fresh for an evening contest at Edison, one to decide who stayed atop the Sunset League.
The Sailors proved they’re no longer a sleeper in league. They upset the league favorite Chargers, 2-0, and improved to 4-0 in league.
Alex Avila scored two second-half goals, and Newport Harbor knocked off the No. 5-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll.
“We’re hungry for wins,” Avila said.
After Avila and the Sailors did not taste a single victory in league last season, the Newport Harbor is perfect so far. In his first season in charge, Coach Ali Khosroshahin has Newport Harbor believing it can win every time out. And it has since the start of the New Year.
For the first time in league, the Sailors prevailed without standout goalkeeper Chandler Siemonsma. The former Los Angeles Galaxy Academy keeper broke his hand in Newport Harbor’s 3-2 win at defending league champion Los Alamitos on Wednesday.
Two days later, on the day Newport Harbor hit the road for a first-place showdown with Edison, Siemonsma said his doctor told him he couldn’t play keeper for the rest of the regular season. With the senior out, the Sailors turned to a junior varsity keeper, Damian Ramos.
“We talked to him early on, telling him, ‘Hey, you could either be on the bench here [on varsity], or you can play games [on JV],’” Khosroshahin said. “He goes, ‘I want to play games.’ I said, ‘Go play. We’ll call you up when we need you.’”
The Sailors needed Ramos to help slow down the Chargers. At the start, the sophomore looked shaky, but he didn’t have to make many stops, as Jonathan Gascon, Oscar Jauregui and Kevin Palmer kicked balls heading toward the goal out of danger.
Edison (13-3-1, 3-1-0 in league), ranked No. 18 in the state by TopDrawerSoccer.com, never really challenged Ramos. He only had to make four saves in his first full varsity match, which resulted in a shutout.
The hosts played without their leading goal scorer, Dominic Bair. Coach Charlie Breneman said Bair missed his second straight match with an ankle injury. Breneman said not having Bair around did not affect the team.
“We played fantastic last game versus Huntington [Beach],” Breneman said of the Chargers’ 3-0 win on Wednesday. “We didn’t bother [Ramos] enough. We didn’t put enough shots on frame. Our guys didn’t do enough to make that guy feel uncomfortable.
“[The setback] humbles us. It makes us hungry. There [are] six games to go and they’re not going to go through this undefeated.”
For a team like Newport Harbor to go undefeated in league would be quite the feat. The Sailors, who went 0-10 in league last season, have to travel for every match because of renovations to Davidson Field.
The Sailors can close out the first part of league without a blemish next Wednesday, when they play Fountain Valley. A win against the Barons and Newport Harbor will have won five matches in league for the first time since the 2013-14 season, the last time it reached the playoffs.
If the Sailors can return to the postseason, Siemonsma said he might be ready to come back. In the meantime, the other 12 seniors on the team will try to keep Newport Harbor rolling.
Avila, who scored in the 67th and 71st minute, and Bryant Reyes are two of those seniors the Sailors depend on.
“Chandler’s a great asset to the team,” said Reyes, who assisted on Avila’s second goal. “But we came in here and we just said, ‘We have to do our job.’
“We’re a very different team [compared to last season]. Ali’s a great coach. He put us together.”
