Harbor hangs around, but falters at end

NEWPORT BEACH — Through the first 63 minutes, Newport Harbor High battled one of the state’s top girls’ soccer teams.

The Sailors held their own against Los Alamitos in a Sunset League match Thursday night.

One minute later, reality set in at home.

On a long throw-in, the ball passed through Newport Harbor’s defense and Lauren Ingram flicked it into the back of the net for Los Alamitos, breaking a scoreless tie.

Four minutes later, another throw-in hurt the Sailors.

Callie Taylor blasted a beautiful shot into the upper-right corner of the net and the Griffins went on to win, 3-0.

Taylor’s goal was the second of three Los Alamitos goals in a 14-minute span. The Griffins are that dangerous.

No team in league has been able to stop them for an entire match.

Los Alamitos (15-2-4, 6-0 in league), ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, is on track to win another league championship.

Newport Harbor is going in the opposite direction.

Four league matches remain for the Sailors (4-10-1, 2-4) to make a push at the playoffs.

The one positive Coach Larry Draluck pointed out was three of those matches are at home.

“One bad thing is that we’re playing Esperanza [Monday],” Draluck said of the No. 6-ranked team.

Both teams will be in must-win mode.

In Esperanza’s case, if the Aztecs (16-3-1, 4-2) want a shot at first place, they need to keep winning and beat Los Alamitos next week, then hope the Griffins drop another match.

The Sailors, who are tied for third place with Edison, are fighting for their postseason livelihood. They put up a valiant effort in the first half Thursday.

The defense went into the break confident after shutting down Los Alamitos’ attack, which had scored 12 goals in its first five league contests.

The problem the Sailors faced was that they were in the same situation other clubs have been in against the Griffins in league.

The opposition hasn’t been able to muster much.

Los Alamitos has allowed two goals, one to Esperanza and Marina, two teams tied for second place in league and trailing the Griffins.

The first 15 minutes offered Newport Harbor three scoring chances. None of the Sailors finished.

Out of the three, the second one looked the most promising.

Midfielder Mary Yeager fed striker Lauren Devoy a pass to the right, near the Sailors’ sideline.

Devoy attacked before sending a line drive cross to fullback Courtney McIntosh. The freshman struck the ball toward goalkeeper Amanda McDonough’s left, trying to sneak into the far post.

It was open, but the ball dribbled right and out of play.

The Griffins breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the Sailors fall short of capitalizing on their opportunities.

“We had a little momentum there,” Draluck said. “Had one of those got in, maybe it would’ve changed the game.”

Los Alamitos flipped the switch.

Coach Steve Soler has seen this before in league play from his Griffins, who usually start out complacent.

“This has been a recurring event for like the past four games,” Soler said. “When the time comes, when they need to step it up, they obviously do a great job finishing.”

The Griffins eventually took control of the match.

The defense hampered down. Hurting the Sailors’ offense was seeing Devoy in pain early in the second half.

The senior supported her left arm, near the elbow, with her right arm. Draluck, noticing Devoy was running funny, asked her, “What’s wrong with you?”

Devoy, bracing herself, shouted back, “It’s a comfortable position.”

When Draluck could, he substituted for Devoy. The Griffins turned it on soon after, cashing in on two great throw-ins by Katie Peterson.

“One of our issues has been winning balls in the back third,” Draluck said. “We’ve given up a lot of goals that way because we don’t clear, we don’t protect our goal well enough. [The Griffins are] tough and they’re an organized group. They’re very physical. I think they kind of wore us down.”

The final 17 minutes proved that.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.