Newport blanks Saints

The Newport Harbor High girls field hockey team may have lost 14

seniors and its head coach, but the team didn’t lose its knack for

winning games.

The Sailors, who won the Sunset League title for the fourth time

in five seasons and reached the final of the Los Angeles Field Hockey

Association Tournament of Champions last year, picked up where it

left off with a convincing 3-0 victory over Santa Ana High in a

scrimmage at Harper School on Tuesday afternoon.

Midfielder Rachel Foster opened the scoring early in the first

half when she took a cross from Nicole Newquist and scored from point

blank. Foster, who led all scorers with two goals, also closed the

day’s scoring when she took a pass from Lara Schilling in traffic in

front of the Santa Ana net and put it past goalkeeper Norma Garcia

with five minutes left in the game.

First-year coach Piper Phillips was happy to get that kind of

production from a midfielder.

“It’s great to get that kind of offensive support from the

midfield,” Phillips said. “Our midfield is pretty strong with her,

Sasha [Grumann] and Jackie [Taylor]. Our forwards are getting a lot

of support.”

Amanda Carver gathered a loose ball near the Santa Ana net scored

on a backhand shot early in the second half.

Newport Harbor did not allow a shot on goal, making things easy on

goalkeeper Jessica Pizarek. The Sailors outshot the Saints 18-0.

“Defensively, I think they had good position and communication,”

Phillips said.

Despite dominating the game, Phillips says there is still room for

improvement.

“We’re better than we were two weeks ago, but we still have a lot

of work to do,” she said. “The main thing is we need to keep the

field spread a little wider. We were clumped in the middle a bit.”

Santa Ana was impressed with its opponent.

“Their stick work is incredible and their hustle is incredible,”

Santa Ana co-coach Ernie Cannata said. “They hustle. They want it.”

It may be too early to tell just how good Newport Harbor can be,

and if a trip back to the the Los Angeles Field Hockey Association

Tournament of Champions final is in the cards, but Phillips likes

what she’s seen so far.

“It’s hard to say because I’m a new coach and I haven’t seen much

of the competition yet,” she said. “But man for man, I feel we have

some of the best players out here.”