Newport zips past Wilson

Rick Devereux

You can’t teach speed and, speed kills.

Two overly used phrases in the sporting world that apply directly

to the Newport Harbor High girls water polo team.

The Sailors utilized their team speed to beat Long Beach Wilson,

13-9, Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Holiday Cup at Newport

Harbor.

Newport (6-0) beat Huntington Beach, 19-2, in the opening round

Wednesday morning thanks to a five-goal effort from junior Calli

Manderino. The Tars face Santa Barbara today at 11:45 a.m. at Newport

in the semifinals. The third-place game is at 3 p.m. and the

championship match is at 4:05 p.m. at Newport.

“It was hard to come back from [the Huntington Beach game] and

stay focused for [the Long Beach Wilson game],” senior captain Anne

Belden said. “The starters didn’t play a lot in that game. We knew we

had to come out and have a real good warm up [against Wilson] if we

wanted to play well.”

The Bruins took an early lead when senior Lauren Silver scored a

goal with 5:23 left in the opening quarter. That was the only lead

Wilson would have.

Junior Leah Robertson received a pass from Anne Belden and lofted

a shot over the goalkeeper to tie the score 24 seconds after Silver’s

goal.

The Tars took the lead for good when senior Laurel Laidlaw lobbed

the ball inside the two-meter area and senior Ashling Taylor

backhanded the ball past the goalie with 1:58 left in the first

quarter.

“Taylor is very strong in the set for us,” Coach Bill Barnett

said. “It is tough for teams to defend against her.”

Belden increased the lead when she connected on a penalty shot

with 1:13 remaining in the quarter.

Following a goal by Wilson’s Allison Perez with 55 seconds left in

the first quarter, Belden sent a beauty of a cross-pool pass to Kally

Lucas, who skipped the ball into the net for a 4-2 lead.

Newport’s speed was used on offense by swinging the ball from side

to side and running counterattacks. But speed was also used on

defense to fluster Wilson and not allow many clean scoring chances.

Wilson was denied on two consecutive shots to open the second

quarter, when both attempts bounced off the crossbar.

Taylor connected on successive attacks to put Newport ahead, 6-2.

Silver, who finished with a game-high six goals, had a score

waived off that would have made it 6-4. Instead, Newport increased

its lead when senior Melissa Wheeler passed to Belden on the wing and

the UCLA-bound captain zipped a shot into the far corner to make it

7-3.

Following another Silver score, Wheeler and Belden hooked up again

with 11 seconds in the first half to give the Tars an 8-4 lead.

The Bruins held onto the ball at mid-pool as the clock wound down,

but Wilson senior Allie Lamb’s lob crossed into the goal as the horn

sounded, cutting the deficit to 8-5.

Belden, who finished with a team-high four goals and five assists,

caromed a shot off the crossbar and into the back of the net for a

9-5 lead.

“She’s got tremendous speed,” Barnett said of Belden. “She makes a

lot of things happen for us.”

Following a Bruin goal, Robertson scored on the man-advantage for

Newport.

Silver made it a three-goal game 17 seconds into the fourth

quarter, but goals from Robertson and Wheeler put Newport comfortably

ahead with 4:31 remaining.

“I did not get worried at the end of the game because I didn’t

think they could score five goals in only a couple of minutes,”

Barnett said.

Holiday Cup

Quarterfinal

Newport Harbor 13,

Long Beach Wilson 9

Score by Quarters

*--*

Wilson 2 3 1 3 -- 9

Newport 4 4 2 3 -- 13

*--*

Wilson -- Silver 6, Perez 1, Al. Lamb 1, Am. Lamb 1. Saves --

Johnson 9.

Newport -- Belden 4, Taylor 3, Robertson 2, Wheeler 2, Lucas 1.

Saves -- Layton 6, Nelson 4.