Sailors step up game to take out Montebello

NEWPORT BEACH — Merrill Moses stood at the edge of the pool, pounding his right fist into his left hand.

The U.S. men’s national team goalie, who also works with Newport Harbor High goalies, prodded the Sailors as they lined up. It was halftime of their nonleague game against Montebello on Saturday, and Newport Harbor was only up by a goal.

“Come on, you guys should be smoking this team,” Moses said.

Later in the third quarter, Moses had more words, this time to Sailors senior goalie Morgan Vickers as she prepared to defend a five-meter penalty shot.

“You’ve got this,” he said. “This is what you live for.”

Vickers blocked the shot with her right hand, helping Newport Harbor outlast the Oilers for the 10-8 victory at Newport Harbor High.

Stanford-bound senior Mimi Bury had four goals for the Sailors (11-1), including one in the second quarter where she had her head backward and fired a no-look goal back into the net.

“I don’t know,” said Bury, smiling, after the game. “We always play around in practice and do cool, secret-agent moves. I just took one and did it in a game.”

But Montebello (5-4), last year’s CIF Southern Section Division I finalist, would hang in there the whole game. The Sailors never led by more than a goal until a third-quarter blitz of three straight goals.

Senior Erin Reid’s power-play goal gave Newport Harbor a 6-5 lead, then Vickers came up big. She blocked successive point-blank shots from Montebello’s Nancy Ruano and Lily Martinez.

After Vickers’ penalty-shot save, Sailors sophomore Kaleigh Gilchrist then immediately scored on the counterattack for a 7-5 lead. She then scored a lob shot off Nicolina McCall’s pass for the three-goal cushion.

“We knew we had the skills to beat them,” said Gilchrist, who added three steals. “After seeing the scoreboard at half, we had to come out strong.”

Laura Lopez’s goal at the third-quarter buzzer cut the Newport Harbor lead to 8-6, but Bury scored from two meters early in the fourth.

Ruano then did her best to mount a Montebello comeback. The junior scored from the left, then scored a straightaway goal from seven meters to cut the Oilers’ deficit to a single goal with 2:51 to play.

But Cal-bound Sailors senior Jessica Robinson earned an exclusion on the Oilers, then the lefty scored the six-on-five goal from the right to push the lead back to two goals with 1:54 left.

Montebello couldn’t get a shot off the rest of the way, as McCall’s steal at two meters with 35 seconds left helped seal the Sailors’ victory.

The game was tied 2-2 after the first quarter, despite the fact Montebello drew five exclusions on Newport Harbor in that quarter alone.

“They’re very small, so their strength is in their speed and quickness,” Bury said.

But the Oilers finished just two for nine on their power play.

“I think our six-on-five was the key difference in the game,” Montebello Coach David Keys said. “If we capitalize on one or two [more] of those, it’s a different ball game. If we make our penalty shot, it’s a different ball game.

“Our girls played really well, and Newport played really well. We were able to keep up with them and go toe-to-toe with them the entire game, it’s just that we have to convert on our six-on-five. It’s like in basketball, where you have to make your free throws to win. We have to make our six-on-five to win.”

Newport Coach Bill Barnett said although his team had poor defense in front of the goal at times, holding Montebello to two for nine on their power play ended up as a positive.

“Our defense, as bad as it was at times, we stepped up on our five-on-six,” Barnett said.

McCall, who scored twice, added two assists and led the defensive effort with seven steals.

Newport Harbor has a Sunset League game against Esperanza on Wednesday before heading to the two-day Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on Friday.

Nonleague

Newport Harbor 10, Montebello 8

SCORE BY QUARTERS

M – Ruano 3, Orozco 2, Martinez 2, Lopez 1. Saves – Connell 4.

NH – Bury 4, McCall 2, Gilchrist 2, Reid 1, Robinson 1. Saves – Vickers 8.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.