Sailors impressive, but tie

NEWPORT BEACH — Most teams enjoy a home-field advantage. Still, it’s a little bit larger for the Newport Harbor High girls’ soccer team, which plays its home games at Davidson Field — snug by soccer standards.

“It’s really difficult [for the opposition] to get wins out here,” Newport Coach Josh Brooks said. “The room isn’t there. When you look up, instead of having one player coming at you, you’ve got two or three.”

The football field was appropriate Thursday, where the Sailors were trying to pay Esperanza back for a touchdown — seven goals — it had scored during the teams’ previous Sunset League meeting.

Newport Harbor dominated the rematch, but settled for a scoreless tie that hurt the Sailors’ chances for a CIF Southern Section Division I playoff spot.

The Sailors (9-8-3, 4-3-1 in league) now have 13 league points, which is behind Los Alamitos (16), Marina (15) and Esperanza (14).

They had plenty of chances on Thursday, especially in the second half. Two minutes into the half, Newport Harbor thought it had scored the go-ahead goal, as Crystal Mena’s cross found the head of teammate Leslie Drewry, who redirected it into the goal at the far post. But offsides was called on the play.

In the 61st minute, Mena’s long throw-in was headed backward in the box by Emily Ohlhaver, but Esperanza goalie Megan Bartlett leaped to tip the shot over the net.

“We always pick it up in the second half,” Mena said. “We just pump it up more. It was a close game, so we obviously had to pick up.”

Another deep throw-in by Mena in the 73rd minute was again headed back by Ohlhaver, and freshman Gillan Hogan nearly stuck it inside the far post.

Newport Harbor never backed down from Esperanza (10-5-6, 4-2-2), which is ranked No. 6 in Division I.

That was a marked difference from the Sailors’ 7-3 loss at Esperanza on Jan. 11, when the Aztecs scored twice in the first five minutes.

Thursday’s rematch was physical throughout.

“They’re really quick, so if you don’t let go of the ball, they’ll hit you really hard,” Ohlhaver said. “But, we’re both really physical teams. It wasn’t really pretty soccer.”

Stephanie Castor made eight saves for the Sailors.

Newport Harbor plays Marina and Los Alamitos next week to close out its regular season, and may need to win both games to assure a playoff berth.

“We’re in control of our own destiny,” Brooks said. “Six points are up for grabs. It’s, how bad do you want it?”