Girls soccer: Woodbridge edges Sailors

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH - Apparently the washer does eliminate the power of

superstition.

For highly-superstitious Newport Harbor High girls soccer coach Jason

Sorrell, Thursday’s 1-0 Sea View League loss to Woodbridge was the

occurrence of more than just solid play by the Warriors.

“I knew I shouldn’t have washed them,” Sorrell jokingly said of his

socks, the same ones he wore in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Laguna Hills.

On a more serious note, it was the Warriors, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern

Section Division II, who negated any supernatural powers, outshooting the

Sailors 17-6 for the game.

“You gotta hand it to them,” Sorrell said. “They have a very strong team

over there. We just couldn’t get anything going.”

Off a header from Siera Cristiano, Woodbridge’s Sandra Martinez directed

a shot past Newport goalie Amy Niles into the net 10 minutes into the

second half for the game’s lone goal.

From there, the Warriors went on the defensive, allowing the Sailors

(2-7-2, 1-2-0 in league) some opportunities to score, but to no avail.

“We had some opportunities in the second half, but we couldn’t make that

last pass for us to get a good shot off,” Sorrell said. “I told the

forwards to get a little more greedy and that gave us some

opportunities.”

Early in the first half, freshman Amy Burlingham broke free after

stealing the ball, but her shot to the right goal post missed and shot

away.

Minutes later off another steal, Katie Yeager tried a lob shot over the

Warriors’ goalie, but her attempt went just above the crossbar and out of

play.

From there, it was all Woodbridge, keeping the ball on Newport’s side of

the field for most of the first half.

Solid saves by Niles kept the game scoreless.

“Amy played real strong for us back there,” Sorrell said. “She came up

big for us when she had to.”

Near the end of the first half, Tory Manchester managed to rip a shot,

but was denied by Woodbridge goalie Megan Druding.

Despite a scoreless first half, the Sailors knew that adjustments had to

be made to keep the game close.

“We pretty much just sat back and defended in the first half,” Sorrell

said. “We needed to start attacking more and take some more chances out

there.”

But it was Woodbridge (9-2-1, 1-0-1) which applied the early pressure.

After Niles shot out of the goal to negate a breakaway chance by

Cristiano, the ball popped loose, but Manchester did a solid job of

backing up the play and kicking the ball out of harm’s way.

But it was Cristiano, who would have the last laugh, setting up Martinez

for the goal moments later.

“We had played such great defense for the whole game,” Sorrell said. “We

just had a little defensive lapse and they took advantage of it.”

On the next trip down the field, Newport nearly tied the score, but a

header tip by Satya Tweena just sailed over the crossbar.

Tweena and Burlingham had to pull off some fancy footwork just to get by

the stingy Woodbridge defense.

“Once they scored that goal, they all just fell back and stopped

attacking. It was real tough to get anything going in their zone.”

Senior Lauren Birchfield and junior Laura Kauth managed to break free on

separate scoring opportunities, but both shots failed to find the back of

the net.

With time running out, Tweena kept the pressure on the Warriors, but

Woodbridge hung tough.

Finally, with a Tweena corner kick corralled by backup goalie Emmie

Dokolil, time ran out.

Niles finished the game with 13 saves, while Woodbridge’s goalies

combined for seven stops.

Sorrell was also pleased with the defensive effort of junior Meredith

Miller, but pointed out a total team effort by his players.

“I couldn’t ask for much more from my players,” Sorrell said.

“Defensively, we had one lapse that hurt us, but the effort is definitely

there. I think this is a game we can definitely build from. We just have

to keep working hard and we’ll get it done.”

Next up for the Sailors is a trip to Aliso Niguel High to take on the

Wolverines Thursday at 3:15 p.m.