Girls Grades 3-4: Newport Coast rebounds, 6-0

Bryce Alderton

COSTA MESA - Coyotes stretched in a circle and jogged in a

single-file line down the field before a soccer game Friday.

No, this wasn’t the zoo, but rather the warmup for the Newport Coast

Coyotes Pilot Cup soccer game Friday versus Davis at The Farm Complex.

The Coyotes warmed up just fine, scoring six times on Davis to avenge

a 4-0 Thursday loss to last year’s champion in the division, Kaiser, and

move to 2-1 in this year’s Pilot Cup.

Allie Pries got the scoring started for Newport Coast and was soon

followed by a goal from midfielder Alexandra Reinach.

At the 10-minute mark of the first half, teammate Kyla Winkle made

good on her second shot on goal in less than five minutes when Pries

found Winkle in the center of the field to put the ball in the net,

making it 3-0 Newport Coast.

About five minutes earlier, Winkle booted a shot while standing just

inside the midfield stripe which hit the top crossbar, just missing a

goal.

The scoring in the first half was not done yet, as Jillian Taylor

scored the first of her two goals in the 24th minute of the first half.

Scoring quieted in the second half as Newport Coast Coach Mark Irwin

began making frequent substitutions, letting more girls into the game, as

Davis continued to show strong defense, led by Scarlett Zambrano and

Shaylen McNulty. Erica Finn showed acute ball-handling skills, eluding

Newport Coast defenders on several occasions.

The effort impressed Davis co-coach Devin Denman, who coaches the team

with Emily Abbott.

“Over half of the girls have never played soccer before, so we were

doing pretty well,” Denman said.

Davis defenders got back on several occasions in the second half to

thwart Newport Coast scoring chances.

After the game, Newport Coast Coach Mark Irwin told his team sitting

huddled around him to concentrate on defense for the next game.

“Some who are used to playing the midfield will have to play defense,”

Irwin told his team. “If no one scores on us, we won’t lose.”

What was once a team scrambling for enough players, as one Newport

Coast parent said, turned into an 18-girl roster that Irwin has to

juggle.

“I tried hard today to give the girls the chance to play at least 10

minutes each half,”Irwin said.

Irwin received production from many outlets in Friday’s game,

including midfielder Cynthia Bui, who suffered a cut lip in the second

half, but managed to maintain her speed and lead several breaks for

Newport Coast down the field.