Field hockey: Sailors end league with loss

SANTA ANA - The Newport Harbor High field hockey team will enter

this year’s CIF Southern Section playoffs on a down note, losing to host

Santa Ana, 2-0, Thursday.

“We played much better in the first half and pretty much controlled

the game,” Coach Sharon Wolfe said. “We just couldn’t find our way into

the goal. Santa Ana was quicker to the ball than we were in the first

half.”

Santa Ana scored both goals in the first period, then threw the entire

squad in front of the Sailors’ offense.

“They had all 10 players inside the circle,” Wolfe said. “That really

makes it tough trying to score against 11 players. It wasn’t a bad

strategy, though.”

Lauren Birchfield, Kim Erickson and Shirin Oskooi led the strong play

from Newport (17-3-1, 12-2 in league).

The Sailors will open the playoffs on Tuesday with an opponent and a

site to be determined.

The junior varsity ended league play with a scoreless tie against

Santa Ana and finished 17-1-1, 12-1-1.