Sailors possess victory

COSTA MESA — As the Newport Harbor High girls’ soccer team warmed up prior to Tuesday’s nonleague match at Estancia, first-year coach Larry Draluck occasionally gave the Sailors some words of wisdom.

“It’s not just about scoring goals,” Draluck told the team. “It’s about keeping control of the ball.”

But the Sailors would soon show their new coach they could do both, running away with a 4-1 victory over the Eagles.

Senior Emily Ohlhaver scored two goals and added an assist for Newport Harbor, which showed impressive team speed throughout and scored three of its goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.

“We want to win it all,” Ohlhaver said. “We have a lot of good players coming in this year. We’re just really excited to play and really hoping for a good season this year. Our upperclassmen are really serious about it, and we haven’t had that in the past.”

Just seven minutes in, sophomore Gillian Hogan crossed the ball to Ohlhaver, who stuck it in at the left post. In the 13th minute, Hogan converted a hard, straightaway shot from just outside the box to give the Sailors a 2-0 lead.

Six minutes after that, sophomore Elizabeth Eddy got a steal, then eventually took a pass from Ohlhaver to score Newport Harbor’s third goal.

It was smooth sailing for the Sailors and their first-year coach.

Draluck, a 47-year-old walk-on coach from San Clemente, is one of the most respected youth soccer coaches around. He has been coaching for 25 years, and started the San Juan Capistrano-based Southern California Blues soccer club in 1989.

Eighteen years later, Draluck still coaches on the Blues’ under-17 and under-18 teams. Hogan and Eddy, a transfer from Calvary Chapel who was the Orange Coast League co-MVP last season, play for the Blues’ under-16 team. In July, the duo helped the under-15 team win the national title at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Texas.

Draluck himself won the California Youth Soccer Association-South Girls’ Coach of the Year award in 2005-06.

“I have really high standards for the level of play,” Draluck said after watching his team improve to 1-0-1. “We still have a long road ahead of us to be able to play the type of soccer that we’re looking to play this season. We show flashes of doing the right things, but there’s a lot of bad habits. We play too fast. We give the ball away too much and our defense becomes unorganized. Those are some of the issues that we’re facing.”

Estancia’s issues Tuesday stemmed from a lack of bodies, Coach Steve Crenshaw said. The Eagles (4-3) were missing sophomore defender Katy Mendez (doctor’s appointment) and junior defender Natalie Plascencia wasn’t feeling well.

“We just got down to where we didn’t have any bodies left to put out there,” Crenshaw said. “Those kind of things hurt you when you’re playing a team as deep as [Newport Harbor]. They were a little too fast for us.”

Crenshaw added that the Eagles are young, as freshman forward Jackie Freiberger has stood out. Tuesday, he also put freshman Erin O’Neil in as a defensive stopper, a position she has never played but one where she more than held her own.

But the Sailors added their fourth goal in the 56th minute, when Ohlhaver avoided a defender near the left post, kept her balance and scored.

“[Ohlhaver] is one player I don’t have to coach too much,” Draluck said. “Her work rate is phenomenal.”

Newport Harbor defenders Katy Storch, Jordan Murrel and Crystal Mena helped make sure their goal was secure and nearly preserved the shutout, along with freshman goalie Sydney King (five saves).

Estancia, which had several nice runs from Nushin Tasbichi and scoring chances from Taylor West, scored in the 73rd minute. Freiberger earned a free kick just outside the box that senior Stacy McDaniels converted.

Sophomore goalie Allyson Wallace made seven saves for the Eagles.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].