Newport and Edison tie again
Bryce Alderton
Like two heavyweights battling in the ring, the Newport Harbor
High and Edison High field hockey teams ran and batted the ball
around the Harper Community Center field Tuesday but the ball eluded
one place, the back of the net.
Visiting Edison, 9-0-2, and Newport, 13-0-4, 7-0-4 in the Sunset
League, battled to a 0-0 tie in front of a crowd of about 75
spectators that included an Edison cheering contingent of eight fans
holding orange cones and chanting phrases such as “Defense,” and the
Newport Harbor cheerleading squad performing a “pyramid” routine.
“We outplayed them and didn’t have anything to show for it,” said
Newport Coach Sharon Wolfe.
With the tie, Newport has 25 points, good for second place in the
Sunset League behind Edison (29 points). Santa Ana came into play
Tuesday with 21 points. Both Newport and Edison have three games
left.
The Sailors beat the Chargers when the teams met in the finals of
the Orange County Invitational at Marina High earlier this month.
“We needed this win but it’s not over yet, we’ll probably play
(Edison) again in the post season,” said Newport forward Kaley Nix.
Nix made two steals, had two shots and kept the ball in the Edison
zone for a majority of a more-aggressive second half charge by the
Sailors, according to Newport Coach Sharon Wolfe.
“The last 13 minutes the intensity picked up,” Wolfe said. “(In
the first half) we had the ball inside 50 yards and 25 yards, but
didn’t click. In the second half we got everyone involved more.”
Newport outshot Edison eight to one, three to zero in the second
half, and had 12 penalty corners to the Chargers’ one.
Newport goalie Amanda Wittman recorded her 14th shutout of the
season, stopping one Charger shot.
The Sailors had their best scoring chances with just under 12
minutes remaining in the game.
Jill Whitfield crossed to Meagan McHone, but Edison goalkeeper
Megan Veneracion came out to stop the rolling ball.
Seconds later Kristin Jendrusina received a cross pass but an
Edison defender swatted the ball away to Ashley Gleason, but Gleason
couldn’t get a shot off in the myriad of sticks and feet.
Wolfe credited Edison’s Katie Cornell, Rebecca Antongiorgi and Kat
Balmsedo with stopping Newport attacks.
“They were the key to the game in the second half, they led the
team by intensity and defense,” Wolfe said.
Jenna Schmidt and Antongiorgi often broke up Sailor passes and ran
down the field, passing back and forth to one another.
Edison had to step up its defense with just under 4:30 left.
Whitfield took the ball at midfield, passed to Rachel Furman who
centered a ball to Kirsten Chamberlain who then touch passed a ball
to Nix down the left sideline.
Nix sprinted to her left past a defender and centered back to
Whitfield in the middle of the field, but the Charger defense
converged toward the ball and swatted it down the field.
“It was frustrating because it was our possession for majority of
the game and we didn’t get it in,” Nix said. “They had a really good
defense and made us run a lot. It got my adrenaline pumping.”
Danielle Pfaff, Kerrie Gates and Dana Owad made several steals and
started breaks for the Sailors to counter the steals and
interceptions made by Edison’s Trigere Popoff and Jill Ketchum.
Even with a tie, Wolfe is encouraged to have Pfaff and Lauren
Curtis back from injuries heading into the playoffs.
“We’re doing excellent to be where we are considering we played a
majority of the season with three starters out,” Wolfe said. “We are
still learning how to score.”
Newport plays at Huntington Beach Thursday before hosting Santa
Ana Tuesday and traveling to face Marina in the final regular season
game Oct. 31.
Newport’s JV team beat Edison, 1-0 Tuesday to move to 10-0-1 on
the season with Edison losing their first game, falling to 7-1-3 on
the season.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.