Newport boys’ soccer remains unbeaten in league with tie at Los Alamitos

Reporting from Los Alamitos —  The titular phrase “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” was an appropriate way of describing how Newport Harbor High’s boys’ soccer team played on Friday night.

It could not be defined simply as good or bad. While the Sailors fell well short of solid execution in the final third, their efforts elsewhere were enough to keep Newport Harbor undefeated in the Sunset League.

Junior Emilio Carbajal made eight saves, helping Newport Harbor secure a point via a scoreless draw at Los Alamitos.

Although the Griffins (4-9-5, 2-3-1, seven points) carried the play in the second half, Carbajal made six saves after the break to keep his team in the game. His best save of the night came in the 64^th minute.

Kevin DeRamos picked up the ball in the midfield. He dribbled from right to left, sending the ball forward for Ryan Mendoza, who ripped a left-footed strike that was ticketed for the top right corner. Carbajal got a good read, and leaping, he deflected the ball over the crossbar.

“World-class save,” Sailors coach Ali Khosroshahin said. “We tell the guys, ‘If we’re going to get beat, let’s get beat on a world-class goal.’”

“Luckily, we’ve got a goalkeeper that can handle that stuff.”

Carbajal downplayed the big stop, saying that everyone on the team has a role to play.

“I’m always playing calm,” he said. “I’m always getting positioned right all the time, being aware of every ball that comes at me. That’s just my job.”

“Everyone has a job on this team. We didn’t show it today. We could have done better.”

Some of that frustration came from only making Griffins goalkeeper Kaden Falsken stop four shots in the game. The Sailors (9-7-4, 5-0-1, 16 points) had some golden opportunities late, including a free kick from the top of the 18-yard box by Alex Enriques in the 76^th minute. The shot missed everything, sailing well over the goal.

In the second overtime, the Griffins received a red card, giving the Sailors an 11-on-10 advantage for the final nine minutes of the game.

Yet again, the Sailors failed to take advantage of their chance. Los Alamitos’ Alex Van Steenbergen and Riley Hunsaker had the best scoring opportunities of the second overtime, with each whistling close-range shots wide of the far post.

“It doesn’t really matter if they have 10,” Sailors center back Tyler Beteag said. “They can still work hard. We needed to use that advantage of having 11, but we didn’t execute that. Our results happened.”

Beteag said that the Sailors keyed in on Los Alamitos’ game plan to send the ball long in the first half. For the most part, the back line of Beteag, Jimmy Castillo, Dane Newton and Dan Suzuki did not allow free runs with the ball.

“I think we’re learning to be in this position,” Khosroshahin said of the first-place Sailors. “These kids are learning how to be the top dog and play with a target on their back.

I just told them that I was proud to get a point away from home. We’ll take it. We’ll learn from it.”

Newport Harbor remains on the road to face Huntington Beach (5-14-1, 1-5-0 in league) next Friday at 5 p.m.

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