Tritons execute plan to perfection

Bryce Alderton

The scenario played out ideally for the Newport Elementary girls

third- and fourth-grade gold division soccer team Friday in the last

of two pool-play games in the Daily Pilot Cup at the Farm Sports

Complex.

The Tritons, needing a shutout to force a shootout with Carden

Hall for the top spot in the pool and an automatic berth into today’s

quarterfinals, got their wish with an 8-0 victory Friday over St.

Joachim.

Newport and Carden Hall, which tied, 1-1, Tuesday, will compete in

a shootout at 8:30 a.m. today for an automatic spot in the

quarterfinals later this afternoon. The loser would play at 9 a.m.

today with a chance at being one of two wild-card teams to reach the

quarterfinals.

Newport Coach Cesar Cappellini was expectedly giddy following the

victory.

“We knew we had to win by a shutout and we did the job,”

Cappellini said. “The girls connected with each other and showed all

out effort.”

Kelsey Long led Newport with three goals while Madison Walsh

scored twice.

Francesca Cappellini, Ricki Archie and Brinley Siemonsma each

added one goal for Newport, which needed the shutout by at least a

5-0 margin to equal Carden Hall’s point total.

But it was the passing that pleased Cesar Cappellini the most.

“They connect and make friends,” he said. “They look to each other

to pass the ball and learn to assist more than to score. They have

fun with this.”

The Tritons took a 6-0 lead into halftime. Five of their

first-half goals came within an eight-minute span.

Long scored Newport’s second and third goals less than a minute

apart in virtually the same fashion. Long twice burst past the

midfield to control a pass in stride and dribbled to within 10 yards

before firing across her body and into the left side of the net.

“[The Tritons] are a good team,” St. Joachim’s Meghan Clevenger

said.

Newport’s attacks kept the St. Joachim defense busy.

Sweeper Erin Hinkleman, Kimberly Watanabe and Paige Bell-Wheelans

protected a goal guarded in the first half by Christina Lugo and

Hannah Beek in the second half.

Newport’s defense, in turn, held up its end, keeping St. Joachim

out of ideal scoring range.

Jacki Cappellini in the first half and Aly Delbrook in the second

patrolled the Newport goal.

Milena Buonance broke free on occasion for St. Joachim, but was

often met with resistance by Newport midfielders.