Newport Harbor girls’ soccer punches CIF ticket after scoreless draw against Huntington Beach
Newport Harbor stepped into its Surf League girls’ soccer finale Wednesday night with a good, rare shot at sharing the league title.
Weary legs, missed opportunities and a sharper foe also playing for a prize conspired to deny.
The Sailors needed superb team defending, a goal-saving tackle from Kate Kubiak and a big save by goalkeeper Cooper Dick to snag a point in a scoreless draw at Huntington Beach when three points were required, settling for second place behind perennial titlist Los Alamitos.
Opportunity lost? Not quite.
Newport Harbor (14-6-4 overall, 3-1-2 in league) clinched the league’s second guaranteed CIF Southern Section playoff berth, which the Oilers (15-5-3, 3-2-1) would have grabbed with a victory.
Opportunity won?
“Automatic qualifier in a four-team league is difficult to get, so there’s something to be said for that, especially in the Surf,” Sailors head coach Justin Schroeder said. “I think the opportunity is lost in the sense that we felt we were one of the best teams in the league, and I guess we showed but, but we’re leaving it up to the soccer gods [by not winning], who aren’t always kind.”
Kubiak, whose leaping tackle three minutes before the end of regulation killed off the best of several excellent Huntington Beach chances, called it “a little bit of both.”
“But honestly, I think it’s an opportunity won,” she said, “because last year we were waiting around [for the playoff pairings]. We didn’t know if we were going to make it, so we’re grateful. We worked for this moment, to get to this spot, so we’re just excited to get into CIF.”
The Sailors, who will play in Division 1, will learn their first-round foe on Saturday and play next Thursday. Huntington Beach, which with a win and Los Alamitos’ failure to beat visiting Marina — a 3-0 Griffins triumph — could have shared or won the Surf crown, ends up third in league and waits to see if an Division 1 at-large spot is available.
Los Alamitos (14-5-5, 4-1-1) has now won all six Surf League titles, none of them shared, and seven straight championships in Sunset Conference play. The Griffins, ranked sixth in Division 1, will almost certainly advance to the eight-team Open Division.
Newport Harbor, behind Kubiak and Sadie Hoch, had the better chances before halftime — Kubiak floated a free kick off the crossbar in the fifth minute, and Oilers goalkeeper Carson Wiese made a point-blank save on Kylie Lopez from another Kubiak free kick in the 20th — but struggled to find an attacking rhythm after that.
Huntington Beach, stretching the Sailors’ defense through direct play, was in charge through the second half and 20 minutes of overtime, behind sophomore Sienna McAthy’s havoc on the right flank and freshman Camille Soleau’s ability to pick up balls and start attacks in midfield. It led to chances — the Oilers out-shot Newport Harbor, 11-1, after the first 40 minutes — but nothing concrete.
Dick came up big 14 minutes into the second half, diving to snare Bailey Oliver’s well-placed header from a McAthy corner kick. The crossbar got in the way of Alicia Katter’s shot off the crossbar in the 69th, and Soleau’s goal on the rebound drew an offside flag.
The outcome, ultimately, was determined in the 77th, when Katter dispossessed Ally Thomas — otherwise sensational at the heart of the Sailors’ defense — and sent Oliver racing toward goal by herself. Kubiak, several yards behind, took off in a sprint, diving forward to poke the ball away just as Oliver was set to shoot.
“That’s Kate,” Schroeder said. “She’s the ultimate competitor, the kid who’s going to leave it on empty at the end of the game.”
The Oilers had one more chance, in the second overtime segment, but Katter fired high from close range after good defensive work by Oliver. The 0-0 scoreline did them no favors.
“It’s definitely a disappointment because of what was at stake, as far [claiming] the guaranteed playoff spot,” said Oilers assistant coach Alex Muñoz, who took charge for the match following the death of head coach Raul Ruiz’s mother. “We went out there to win, and we just couldn’t put the ball away when we needed.”
All-CIF attacker Jaiden Anderson, who leads the Oilers with 13 goals, missed the Surf campaign with a broken collarbone but might be able to return, Muñoz said, if a playoff berth, not unexpected, arrives. With her, Huntington Beach might have finished on top.
“I don’t want to say there’s no doubt in my mind,” Muñoz said. “But chances are really good that, having Jaiden, I don’t think we drop any points. But that’s the beauty of high school soccer, right? It’s a short season, and you’ve got to deal with all the curve balls being thrown at you constantly.”
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