Sailors wipe out Chargers

NEWPORT BEACH — One of Kaleigh Gilchrist’s friends lugged her around in front of the Newport Harbor High bleachers. Fans cheered every time the friend lifted Gilchrist in the air.

Well, it was a life-sized cardboard cutout of Gilchrist in a wetsuit.

The real Gilchrist was in the pool playing in a crucial Sunset League girls’ water polo match against Edison. Surfing wasn’t in the plans Wednesday night.

The senior still wiped out the Chargers.

Gilchrist recorded four of her five goals in the first 7 1/2 minutes, allowing the Sailors to cruise to a 9-3 home victory. Newport Harbor easily got past its last hurdle in league play.

The Sailors (10-1, 2-0 in league) won’t have Gilchrist in their next league match. And it doesn’t seem to matter because they appear on their way to claiming a fourth Sunset League title in as many seasons.

Gilchrist on Saturday leaves for New Zealand, where she will compete with the USA surf team at the Quiksilver International Surfing Assn. World Junior Championships from Jan. 18-28. There is some confusion regarding what time the flight departs and if Gilchrist can play with Newport Harbor on the day she leaves.

Saturday will be the second day the Sailors will be at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. Coach Bill Barnett expects the team to contend for the tournament title that day.

Whether Gilchrist will be available, Barnett said he didn’t know.

“I don’t know [what] her reservations are,” said Barnett, who is certain about what time international flights going to New Zealand usually leave Los Angeles International Airport. “The planes for New Zealand don’t leave until 10 at night.”

The Sailors have a couple of days to work out the scheduling kinks. That seems to be the only issue with Newport Harbor these days.

The rest has been relatively simple for the Sailors, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll.

Newport Harbor won its third straight game after losing to top-ranked Dos Pueblos of Goleta on Dec. 31. Goalie Krissy Burger and the Sailors’ vaunted defense slowed down an Edison team that averaged 13 goals per game during a four-game winning streak.

The team that was supposed to give Newport Harbor a challenge after Los Alamitos went into overtime with the Sailors in the league opener last week, was non-existent in the first period. During the seven-minute stretch, Coach Diggy Riley said his Chargers (13-4, 1-1) were lost.

The power-play opportunities didn’t help Edison’s cause as it went one for six.

When Gilchrist wasn’t scoring in the opening period, she set up her teammates. Kate Klippert gave Newport Harbor a 6-1 lead after finishing a nice give-and-go play between her and Gilchrist with 34 seconds left in the first.

Danielle Warde was the player who managed to score for Edison in the first period. She ended up being the Chargers’ lone scorer.

The UC Irvine-bound senior scored twice in the first half, and added a third goal on a five-meter penalty shot late in the fourth period.

A couple of times while the Chargers tried to counterattack, Gilchrist made them pay with sheer hustle. Gilchrist put away two rebounds after no defender stayed with her on initial shots by Klippert and Kailyn Obenauer.

“We kind of lost sight of her,” said Riley, whose team no longer has its eye on winning its first league title since 2001.

Second place is up for grabs and Edison and Los Alamitos will battle for it next week.

The Sailors are counting on seeing the Griffins again. If both teams win their first two games on Friday in Santa Barbara, they will meet in the semifinals.

“That would be a very tough game,” said Barnett, knowing things will only get harder without Gilchrist in the tournament finale, which Dos Pueblos is expected to reach.

Gilchrist said she’s unsure about being able to play if the Sailors qualify for the championship game because of her flight on Saturday. Katie Jackson is hoping Gilchrist can play.

“Playing water polo without Kaleigh is like near-impossible because she’s seriously the glue that holds our team together,” said Jackson, who finished with two goals, two assists and a steal. “Without her, we’re really, really, really going to have to just work our butts off and do the best we can.

“Maybe we could just throw [the cardboard cutout of Gilchrist] in the pool and pretend that’s her.”