Sailors pass gut check, beat Foothill

Bryce Alderton

Down three starters with a majority of overtime left to play in

arguably the biggest game of the season thus far forced the Newport

Harbor High girls water polo team to look a little deeper than

expected against rival Foothill in the Sea View League opener

Wednesday at Tustin High.

The Sailors proved they had plenty in reserve.

Juniors Kally Lucas and Leah Robertson scored 36 seconds apart and

the defense held the Knights scoreless for the second overtime

session as Newport gutted out a 10-8 victory, just four days after

enduring a 9-8 defeat to Foothill in the Santa Barbara Tournament of

Champions final.

Newport (14-1) played the final 5 minutes, 46 seconds of overtime

-- the extra session is broken into two three-minute periods --

without seniors Anne Belden, Ashling Taylor and Melissa Wheeler.

Belden, a first-team All-CIF Southern Section Division I honoree a

year ago, exited the game with 14 seconds elapsed in the first

overtime period after suffering a cut above her eye and didn’t return

while Wheeler and Taylor each received their third ejections nine

seconds apart with less than four minutes gone in the fourth quarter.

The losses, though, seemed to galvanize the Sailors.

“We wanted to win for Anne,” said Lucas, who led Newport with five

goals, five steals and three drawn ejections. Lucas assisted on

Robertson’s goal, which gave the Sailors a 10-8 lead with 2:01 left

in the second overtime quarter after both teams ended regulation tied

at 8.

Robertson added a steal while junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Layton

made two of her eight saves in the final two minutes of overtime,

including a reach to her left to stop a shot from Foothill’s Chantel

Satchell. Belden returned to the pool deck wearing a team robe with

less than 10 seconds remaining to celebrate the victory with

teammates before being rushed to a hospital to receive medical

attention, her father Dwight Belden said.

“I have so much faith in our team,” said Wheeler, who scored a

goal and added two assists and has signed with Cal. “We bring each

other to tears in practice for games like this.

“There’s nothing tougher than [playing] Foothill.”

The contest featured six ties and five lead changes.

Newport twice held two-goal leads -- at 3-1 in the second quarter

and 7-5 in the third quarter -- but the Knights (12-3) closed each

period with single goals to keep the pressure on.

Noel Umphrey’s tap-in goal on a 5-on-4 advantage gave Foothill an

8-7 lead with 3:58 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Lucas

answered 23 seconds later with a bullet from seven meters out to even

the game.

Both teams went scoreless in the first three-minute session, which

could have ended badly for Newport. Referees whistled Lucas, who

already had two ejections, for an exclusion as time expired in the

first overtime period. If Foothill would have won the ensuing sprint

to start the second extra session, Lucas would have been ejected for

good.

As it was, Robertson won the sprint and Lucas tallied a steal,

goal and assist to help the Sailors claim their second victory over

the Knights in three meetings this season and gain the upper hand in

seeding for the CIF playoffs.

Robertson finished with two goals, two assists, two steals and two

drawn ejections while Taylor tallied four steals, one goal and two

drawn ejections. Belden had one goal and two assists.

Sea View League

Newport Harbor 10,

Foothill 8

Score by Quarters

*--*

Newport 3 1 3 1 0 2 -- 10

Foothill 2 3 1 2 0 0 -- 8

*--*

Newport -- Lucas 5, Robertson 2, Belden 1, Wheeler 1, Taylor 1.

Saves -- Layton 8, Nelson 3.

Foothill -- Reynolds 3, Holshouser 2, Klug 2, Umphrey 1. Saves --

Oland 9.