Girls field hockey: Daughter knows best

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - There was no way the Newport Harbor High girls

field hockey team was going to lose its Sunset League game to visiting

Huntington Beach Thursday. Athena Vasquez wouldn’t let that happen. The

Newport junior vowed to win mostly because her mother, Pacita, is the

coach of the Oilers.

The rest of the Sailors also played with winning intentions and helped

Vasquez beat her mom and Huntington Beach, 3-0, at Harper Community

Center. Newport (13-2-1, 9-1 in league) posted its 13th shutout of the

season and ninth straight league win as Vasquez led the defense that

opened the door for offensive opportunities, including two goals and an

assist from junior Kaley Nix and another goal from junior Chanelle

Sladics.

“There’s no losing when it comes to playing my mom,” said Vasquez, who

also stars as a shortstop for Newport’s softball team and a point guard

for the basketball squad. “I wanted to play at my best. It’s

high-intensity play, playing against her.”

Pacita Vasquez, who graduated from Estancia High and was coached by

Newport Coach Sharon Wolfe in basketball, took the loss in stride. Her

Oilers lost seven seniors to graduation last year and she is rebuilding.

“(Playing against Athena) was terrible,” Pacita Vasquez jokingly said.

“It’s a good feeling to watch her play. We’ve had a bit of the rivalry at

home. I told her (Newport) would win because we’re so young. But she said

that was no excuse.”

Athena Vasquez displayed aggressiveness throughout and continually

stymied the Oilers’ offense with her hockey stick. Huntington Beach

(2-5-1 in league) finished with just one shot on goal, which came in the

first half.

Newport, on the other hand, earned 32 shots on goal, 18 in the second half. That meant plenty of work for Oilers’ goalie Heather Papini-Chapla,

who recorded 21 saves.

The Sailors’ attack also resulted in 13 penalty corners (a free hit

awarded to an offensive player from a point on the goal line at least 10

yards from the nearest goal post. One attacking player hits the ball to a

teammate just outside the striking circle line, near the cage.).

With 19:32 remaining in the first half, Nix took advantage of one

penalty corner. She began the play with a pass to Athena Vasquez who

placed the ball for sophomore Jill Whitfield to shoot. From Whitfield’s

shot, that bounced off a few Huntington defenders, Nix recovered the ball

and fired a shot into the cage for a 1-0 lead.

Just under three minutes into the second half, Nix scored her second

goal as she swung her stick at the ball after three straight Sailor shots

and three straight Papini-Chapla saves.

Later, with 12:55 remaining and from a penalty corner, Nix crossed a

pass from the corner to midfield about 10 yards away from the Oilers’

cage and directly to Sladics, who finished it off for the 3-0 lead.

Yet it was the defense that created Newport’s offensive intensity.

Coach Sharon Wolfe recently changed her scheme from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and

with more girls up front the Sailors have become more aggressive.

“Rachael Furman had another good game today,” said Wolfe, who was also

impressed with the defensive efforts of Chloe Cox and Allison McKenzie.

“Allison has played in every spot. Her knowledge has increased. She has

definitely become like a coach on the field.”

Newport resumes action Tuesday at 3:15 p.m., in a heated battle for

first place in the Sunset League against rival Marina, the host of the

matchup.