Working on their holiday

Rick Devereux

The Newport Harbor High girls water polo team knew defending its CIF

Southern Section Division I title would not be easy.

“The CIF champion always has a target on its back,” Coach Bill

Barnett said. “That’s the way it should be.”

That target seemed enlarged as the Sailors won two overtime games

Thursday to claim the Holiday Cup at Newport.

The Tars defeated Santa Barbara, 7-6, in the semifinals on a goal

by Kally Lucas in sudden-death overtime. Leah Robertson tied the game

at 6 for Newport 10 seconds after the Dons took the lead in the

second overtime period.

Newport rested for two hours and then had to battle Sea View

League foe Foothill, the team the Sailors defeated in the CIF title

match last year, for the championship. The Tars won, 5-3, in

overtime.

“I was very concerned [about our conditioning],” Barnett said. “We

played later than Foothill and had an overtime game.”

The Knights’ semifinal game was at 10:40 a.m. whereas Newport’s

was at 11:45.

That extra rest seemed to carry Foothill (6-2).

After taking a 3-1 lead with 59 seconds left in the third quarter,

Newport surrendered two goals, which sent the game into overtime. The

tying goal came with seven seconds remaining in the match when the

Sailors’ defense collapsed and stole the ball from a Foothill player.

The ball was jarred loose and floated to the Knights’ Noel Umphrey,

who shot and scored from the wing.

The game remained 3-3 after the first overtime period, but captain

Anne Belden gave Newport (8-0) the lead 10 seconds into the second

overtime period with a blast from the right side.

Senior Ashling Taylor put the game away when she received a pass

from Belden, turned and fired a goal from the two-meter mark.

“I set myself inside and Belden gave me just a perfect pass,”

Taylor said. “We’re all exhausted. I can’t even see straight, I’m so

tired.”

Taylor took a pounding inside all day, first against Santa Barbara

and then against Foothill. She finished with three goals against the

Knights.

Taylor’s first goal came in the first quarter when she pounced on

a loose ball following Robertson’s shot.

After Foothill scored in the second quarter, Robertson fed a

perfect lob pass to Taylor in the third quarter as the senior

streaked toward the Knights’ goal. Taylor easily skipped a shot past

the goalkeeper to give Newport the lead.

Belden scored with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter to stretch

the lead to 3-1, but Foothill clawed back to send the game to

overtime.

“It feels good to be on top,” Taylor said. “We have a huge target

on our backs. Everybody is gunning for us.”

The Foothill defense kept the Sailors’ offense out of rhythm to

open the game. Newport had five shot-clock violations, including on

first possessions of both the first and third quarters.

“Early on in the game, their defense really shut us down,” Barnett

said. “It showed you can stay in a game if your offense isn’t

executing but your defense is doing well.”

Newport was out-shot in the first half, 9-4.

“I thought as the game went on, the momentum shifted from them to

us,” Barnett said.

In the second half and overtime, Newport outshot the Knights, 5-2.

“We had to pull this win out,” Taylor said. “We were exhausted,

but all of those drills Coach Barnett puts us through really paid

off.”

Barnett said he was more concerned about the physical toughness of

his team rather than the mental fortitude to endure two grueling

matches in one afternoon, especially since the only substitutes were

the goalkeepers at the half in both games.

That means Belden, Taylor, Robertson, Lucas, Laurel Laidlaw and

Melissa Wheeler played just under 70 minutes of intense water polo.

“That’s the way it’s going to be for us,” Barnett said. “We’re

looking for subs to step up.”