NEWPORT HARBOR GIRL'S SOCCER NEWS
1/19/08-2/8/08
A Disappointing Second Half Of League Play
The second half of the season began with some hope only to quickly turn to reality. In Larry's absence Jaycee took the team to an overtime replay win in an away game vs Esperanza scoring two goals and giving the team the final 4-2 victory and a valuable two extra points in the standings. The team could not, however, capture the subsequent game playing well but coming away short in a 1-0 loss.
The wheels of the season really came off in the next match at home vs Edison as against the run of play and with good offensive pressure we gave up three counterattack goals on defensive errors. We fought back to score a goal but it was not enough...Edison would bend but not break and we went down to defeat 3-1.
With the understanding we would have to win our remaining three games in order to have any chance to qualify for CIF the team put in a great effort in our away game vs Fountain Valley. FV scored a first half goal and we put relentless pressure on them the rest of the game before scoring the equalizer in the last minute of regulation play. We were unable to score in overtime, however, and ended up with a hard fought 1-1 tie. It would not be enough to keep the playoff hopes alive. We could only play for pride.
We came out extremely flat and uninspired against Los Alamitos at home while they on the other hand had much to play for in that they were chasing first place in league. We were soft in the middle on two throw-in plays and they scored two quick goals, the half finishing 3-0. We fought hard in the second half but could not finish a goal as they scored again giving them an easy 4-0 win for the second straight game. This season we were just not able to match up with Los Alamitos' physical play.
In our last game of the season going in we knew Marina at home needed a win to make the CIF playoffs and we could be in the position of spoiler. We played hard on both sides of the ball but Marina took a 1-0 halftime lead. We came back in the second half to score two goals to take the lead and put a scare into Marina. It was not to be, however, as Marina came back to score twice and take the game 3-2. Congratulations to the deserving teams that will represent our league in the CIF Playoffs (Marina, Los Alamitos, and Esperanza).
In closing the season...lets keep this great game in perspective. Even through disappointment we grow if we learn from our mistakes and then make adjustments. If given the opportunity I for one am looking forward to working with everyone to help build a successful Newport Harbor Girls Soccer Program.
See you all at the banquet on March 3!!!
12/28/07-1/18/08
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To CIF
Before we get started with a breakdown of the first half of our Sunset League season, we hope the new year is finding everyone healthy and doing well. This is such a competitive world there are times we lose sight of the fact that we have so much to be thankful for.
Varsity league play has been difficult to say the least. After a narrow 1-0 win over our Newport Harbor Alumni on the 27th of December, on January 3rd of the new year Varsity was able to pull out a tie in the league opener vs a strong Esperanza team. Playing some of her first soccer for the team coming back from injury Carly Ruiz made an immediate impact on a surge through midfield then dished to Lauren Devoy who was taken down for a PK. Gillian Hogan converted for the 1-0 halftime lead. In the second half Esperanza began to exert maximum pressure causing lots of breakdowns and creating many opportunities before scoring the equalizer and then the go ahead goal giving them the 2-1 lead. With several adjustments Elizabeth Eddy broke down the left sideline in the last moments of the game and gave a beautiful service to the far post where sophomore Melissa Hancock headed home the goal to tie the game. The game ended in a 2-2 tie but not really as you will find out if you read on.
Next the team would travel to the Artificial Grass of Edison. After a scoreless and even first half the girls played a fantastic second half and created several scoring chances. On an opponents foul in our own half Emily Ohlhaver quickly played a long pass to a streaking Elizabeth Eddy who surprised the goalkeeper getting on the end of the pass and slotted home our first goal. Later in the half towards the end of the match Lauren Devoy hustled to a loose ball and before the defense could react she snuck the second goal of the game under the keeper cementing the 2-0 win.
The third game of the league was against Fountain Valley at home. Perhaps with positive results in the Edison game the team was over confident as we played almost the entire game without much rhythm. Early in the second half Elizabeth Eddy took the initiative to beat several players in the opponents penalty area and drove home a hard shot to give the team a 1-0 lead. Even with the lead the team played inconsistently as possession was hard to come by. With four minutes remaining on a foul in midfield the opponent took a quick free kick and played it behind our midfielders where the FV forward took a long shot scoring to tie the game. After the two overtime periods the game ended in a 1-1 tie and really put the pressure on our opportunity to qualify for the CIF playoffs.
In our next match we traveled to play Los Alamitos who at the time was ranked number one in CIF. We began the game playing extremely well and moving the ball at pace. Twenty minutes into the game we committed a foul near our own goal. On the direct free kick Los Al scored giving them the 1-0 lead. Moments later on another foul and free kick Los Al played the ball over the top of our defense and to the weak side where a free player put in the second goal giving them a 2-0 lead at half time. Playing from behind we had a difficult time breaking through their defense although we did manage to create a couple good chances. Los Alamitos put in two more goals in the second half to run away with an easy
Our last game would be against Marina at home and in many respects was a must win game if we wanted a chance to climb into the race for the final playoff spot. Marina in the same position as us put us under incredible pressure but was unable to score. Against the run of play as they pushed forward we were able to get a ball to Lauren Devoy who scored on a breakaway. Once again against the run of play goalkeeper Sydney King punted a long ball down field over the head of the Marina defense and onto the foot of Lauren Devoy...she scored our second goal to give us a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately the lead did not last as towards the end of the half as we pulled up defensively we allowed a player from Marina to slip into the center of our defense bring down a ball and score to make the score 2-1 at halftime. In the second half with the momentum in their favor we struggled and on two throw-in plays Marina scored a second then third goal to give them a 3-2 lead. We threw lots of players forward to tie the game but missed several scoring chances and the game ended with a disappointing 3-2 loss. For more on what will come read the Daily Pilot article here.
12/22/07-12/27/07
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to come. Following a short holiday break including our annual alumni game our Sunset League Opener is set to begin on Thursday January 3, 2008 at Newport Harbor with a 5:00 pm kickoff. JV and Frosh/Soph will kickoff at 3:15 pm with the JV at Harper and the FS at Newport.
Alumni Game On The 27th Of December
The Newport Harbor Varsity Girls will conclude their preseason on December 27 with a 6:00 kickoff at the high school stadium versus our world famous Newport Harbor Alumni Soccer Team organized by Frosh/Soph coach Jaycee Mahler and Alum Molly Warmsley who is currently a 9th Grade Counselor at Estancia High School.
All present and past players along with their family and friends or just fans are invited to attend this special game. Following the match the plan is to go to a local pizza establishment, have some food, catch up on old times, make new friends, and exchange old war stories. Your support is welcome.
How can we know where we are going if we don't know where we have been?
Girls Get Back On Track With Solid Performances
Rebounding from poor showings in the first two games at the Irvine Tournament, the Girls came out strong in two non league games this past week. First the girls took the field for the first time at home going up against El Modena.
We scored two quick first half goals on aggressive play and defended well. El Mo stepped up their pressure towards the end of the half and got one goal back on a shot from outside after a give away in our own end. Stephanie Castor played extremely well in goal in her first appearance for the Varsity. The second half saw El Modena apply even more pressure but the girls held on until Sophomore Brianna Schwartz scored an amazing goal. Winning a ball at midfield she exploded past the defensive line of El Modena toward the left wing, as they recovered towards her she cut into the middle taking advantage of their over pursuit. Facing only the keeper she calmly chipped the ball over the keeper into the open part of the net on the right side of the goal thereby cementing a 3-1 win for the Sailors.
The JV team earned a hard fought 0-0 tie in their match at Harper while Jaycee's kids ran up the score in their game prior to the Varsity game.
On Thursday of the same week all three Sailor Girls teams would travel to Aliso Niguel to take on the Wolverines...one of the top girls soccer programs in the CIF. The Varsity game was covered by the Daily Pilot and you can read it here. Once again Cory Dilbeck guided his battered JV squad to a 0-0 stalemate in a courageous defensive stand. Goalkeeper Michelle Loubet was outstanding in the game. Jaycee's Frosh/Soph girls continued their success winning their game 2-1 on Aliso's back field.
In the Varsity match Senior Emily Ohlhaver was out of action with the flu which would be quite an adjustment for the team. The girls played hard in the first half but struggled to put anything together on offense. The team dodged a few bullets before eventually giving up a goal about 15 minutes in. Unable to tie the game we finished the first half down 0-1. After the halftime break the girls came out with a lot more clarity in their attack moving the ball around quickly and doing a much better job of keeping possession. Kayla Henrie and Elizabeth Eddy were outstanding handling the ball in the middle and distributing it with accuracy while the entire defensive line (Crystal Mena, Katy Storch, Maggie Bernay, Gillian Hogan) also did a great job of switching the point of attack as well as winning balls. Pressing the attack the girls created several opportunities in the second half before winning a throw-in near the attacking third. Crystal Mena launched one of her long throw-ins, Elizabeth Eddy flicked it to the far post where sophomore forward Melissa Hancock headed in the goal to give the Sailors the 1-1 tie at the end of the game. It was Melissa's second goal in the last two games.
12/17/07
BOB Ends In Tie! Rough Weekend At Irvine Tournament
Today we finally get back to training after a difficult series of games this past week. As was noted earlier in the news; we came up short in San Clemente 2-1 in a game that could have gone either way. The positive note was that we played extremely well and created many scoring opportunities.
Excitement was abound heading into Battle of the Bay! Surely we would crush them with our renewed enthusiasm. Well one famous soccer coach a long time ago was quoted as saying "don't put the cart in front of the horse"; we were presumptuous to assume CDM would roll over.
Seriously it was a disappointing match vs CDM who came out with a rivals energy and in many respects outplayed us in the 1-1 tie. It could have been expected from my perspective as I detected a change in approach to the game; one that in my humble opinion would lead to distraction rather than focus on the necessary details. Instead of dealing with the energy level of the opponent in a rational way we resorted to one up them and the game became one of pure emotion from both teams. The Daily Pilot covered the game in detail.
This spun into our efforts the next evening at the Irvine Tournament where conditions would be difficult for several reasons.
We opened up in the evening vs Laguna Beach we seemed disjointed on the field, completely out of rhythm. Laguna scored an early goal but we had difficulty putting things together on offense. We turned the ball over which led to several counter attacks. The team was on edge as we went to halftime down 1-0.
Early in the second half Laguna scored a second goal...things seemed pretty dim. The team went into attack mode at that point throwing a lot of numbers forward and we managed to pull one goal back to get the score to 2-1. Late in the second half someone sent a through ball to Melissa Hancock who slipped it past the goalkeeper as the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
The next morning we came out against El Dorado and they took the game to us right away. They pressured us into several mistakes and before we could get our act together we were down 3-0 at half. We managed to mount a comeback of sorts scoring 3 second half goals but we also broke down a few more times and gave back 2, basically we were outworked most of the game both Mentally and Physically as the game ended 5-3 in favor of a strong El Dorado team. Lots of sad faces and self doubt.
Believe it or not a loss can often lead to growth and a team breakthrough. After a lot of discussion and self examination the team came out that evening to play their final game vs Foothill. At this point we had several injuries to deal with along with some players out sick. We stuck a field player in the goal and against the run of play went down 1-0. We played our best game of the tournament with regards to ball possession and although we created several scoring opportunities we could not cash in. The game ended in a 1-0 loss but I felt the team had made a small breakthrough and they went home feeling better about themselves.
12/12/07
Tough away game losses vs San Clemente. Battle of the Bay tomorrow!
Our teams traveled yesterday to the turf at San Clemente. The Varsity girls played an excellent first half but failed to score goals on their opportunities with several near misses. Towards the last moments of the first half San Clemente capitalized in transition off our goal kick and got a good shot off for a goal before the team could react.
Down 1-0 the girls attacked most of the second half with Kayla Henrie scoring unassisted off of a corner kick equalizing the score 1-1. It appeared the girls took a 2-1 lead on an own goal by San Clemente off of Crystal Mena's power throw-in but after consulting with his assistant the referee called the goal back.
Once again in an effort to win the game the girls got caught up field and San Clemente capitalized on one of their few chances scoring the go ahead goal to give the Sailors their first loss of the season at 2-1.
With injuries and illness the JV had a tough first half being outplayed and giving up 3 first half goals before coming out strong in the second half and holding their own the rest of the match. The score ended 0-3. Standing out for the JV were Gwen Gaylord, Nicole Smith, and freshman Varsity player Tori Browne. Our Frosh Soph girls managed a 1-1 tie playing San Clemente at home.
12/11/07
Western Christian Varsity Tournament
The Varsity Girls captured the Championship of the Western Christian Tournament in the cold weather last evening at Chino Hills High School (Right). Elizabeth Eddy scored the lone goal from a Lauren Devoy assist giving the Sailors the 1-0 Championship Victory. Today Varsity (3:15) and JV (4:45) teams travel to San Clemente to take on the high powered Tritons. Frosh Soph will play San Clemente 3:15 at Newport.
Varsity Girls will play this evening vs Glendora for the Western Christian Soccer Tournament title. Final games are tricky games to play in that often times teams get caught prematurely focusing on getting results rather than sticking to the process that got them to the final in the first place.
The girls have been steadily improving and coming together as a team as one might expect given that they are playing more and more games with one another. Leadership on the team is fantastic with several seniors taking on a lot of responsibility for organizing the team.
We entered the tournament not knowing what to expect, we were not even sure if we would be playing because of the rain. The word came down that our first game was on, having been moved to a Chino Hills Community Park where we would play Chino Hills on a turf field. In the first game we got off to a great start with 2 first half goals but we failed to manage the game under the pressure of Chino Hills and their home crowd. We did not cash in on some good opportunities and Chino pressured us into making mistakes in our build up capitalizing and scoring the equalizing goal to make it 2-2 in the last minute of the match. We must improve in our composure under pressure.
The next day we traveled to Chino Hills High School for our second match vs San Jacinto. Since we tied the first game our fate would be determined by goal differential with Chino Hills, they having scored 5 goals in their game prior to us taking the field. We would have to win at least 6-0 to advance in first place and have a chance at the championship. In the first half we scored 3 quick goals but the second half the pressure of advancing began to creep in. Only an outstanding effort towards the end of the second half gave us the 3 goals we would need. Of note was a hat trick performance by Elizabeth Eddy and one incredible save by Sydney King who preserved the shutout win. We won 6-0 and advanced to the semifinal vs Granite Hills.
The Granite Hills game was difficult, we had a hard time matching the opponent's energy level although our build up towards attack was showing signs of significant improvement. Eventually after a good series of passes in the first half we put together a combination getting the ball to Emily Ohlhaver who with her back to the goal neatly spun and fed Lauren Devoy running in towards the net. Lauren took her time and finished into the far post to give us the 1-0 lead. The second half was a bit stressful but we managed to hang on with our defense leading way. Katy Storch, Maggie Bernay, and Crystal Mena were outstanding with the help of their midfield line. Upon our return to Newport several of the girls braved the cold and hung out to watch the guys night game, oh and we ate cheese pizza provided by our impoverished coach!
JV Edison Tournament Notes:
Our JV girls went down to defeat in their first game of the Edison Tournament for the second straight match to a powerful Mater Dei by a score of 0-3. In their second match the girls came up with a breakthrough. They went up 2-0 in the first half but then gave up 2 goals to finish with a 2-2 tie against Cypress. Penalty Kicks would decide which team would get to play on with Cypress also having been defeated by Mater Dei by a 0-3 score. Goalkeeper Michelle Loubet came up with a big save in PK's as the girls advanced to play another day. Great job girls!
12/5/07
Game Comments
The Varsity & JV traveled to Estancia for preseason games. The Varsity jumped out to an early lead scoring 3 first half goals before finishing the match with a 4-1 win. The first half goals allowed the team to relax in the second half giving valuable field time for the players to work on their game. I feel we made some progress offensively as we did a better job of spacing on the field. We were missing some key back line players but Crystal Mena and Katy Storch stepped in to play in the middle to provide leadership and stability. Emily Ohlhaver led the way notching her second and third goals of the season. The local Daily Pilot wrote an article on the Varsity game which you can read here.
In Junior Varsity news the girls tied their second straight game by a 0-0 score. Coach Cory Dilbeck has been happy with the work of the team defensively but of course he is still waiting for the team to break through in the scoring column.
In our preseason game vs St. Joseph's we managed a 2-2 tie. I really did not think we played all that well in this game but eventually we got a few things going. We seemed to be playing with a bit too much excitement and some of that may have been due to the pressure of the opponent.
Offensively we were out of sync from the beginning of the game although we did manage to find some rhythm on occasion during the second half. Overall we need to hold the ball better and we are making some defensive errors that will only be corrected as we play more games together.
Nice throw in assist by Crystal Mena and awesome header by Lauren Devoy for our first goal. Another awesome header by Emily Ohlhaver off of Maggie Bernay's service. Elizabeth Eddy had a great game along with Freshman goalkeeper Sydney King who's save towards the end of the game preserved the tie.
On another note the JV also tied their game at Harper vs St. Joseph's 0-0 while Jaycee was coach of the day as her Frosh/Soph team won 7-0!
11/20/07
With only one official practice in preparation today the Girl's Program opened up with a scrimmage vs CIF powerhouse Mater Dei. In the Varsity scrimmage both teams were missing returning players and the game ended in a 2-2 tie with the Sailor Girls scoring a late equalizer. The JV did not fare as well going down 0-3 on several defensive errors while the Frosh/Soph turned in a representative effort in a 0-1 loss.
Game Comments
Happy Thanksgiving!
Our game today held a lot of energy and excitement. I was pleasantly surprised at how competitive we were, especially with so little game preparation. Kayla Henrie gave us great stability in the middle of the field while Lauren Devoy put a lot of pressure on the opponent with her relentless work up top. The freshman and sophomores also kicked in with a great effort.
Mater Dei had more of the possession game (60/40) and we made at least one defensive error that resulted in a goal against us. We still need a lot of work in practice to become more organized on both sides of the ball and to establish continuity amongst the team. I would rate our overall performance as a B+ given the circumstances. The home crowd, however, was an A+ and gave us a nice lift at the end. Thanks for the support!
At CIF Cross Country Finals, the NH Girls team won a CIF title & the Boys team was Runner-up. The Boys Water Polo team also won a CIF Title on Saturday. Congratulations on all your success and for setting a high standard of excellence that others can follow.
11/15/07
The rosters for our three teams are now posted on the Team Rosters Page. There may still be one or two additions as players who had conflicts with the tryout schedule have the opportunity to attend some practices and it could be that some of the players chosen decide not to make the commitment and accept a spot on one of the teams.
On the schedule front, a calendar is available for your convenience where you can mouse over the date in question and get information on the daily events.
Parent Meeting Held
An important parent meeting was held on November 14 in the high school library. The Girl's Coaching Staff was introduced and plans for the upcoming season were discussed. Registration material was passed out and collected by the parent boosters, fund raising efforts for the program were also presented.
If you missed this meeting please contact the Boosters so that you can be up to date with regards to registration details.
Please download your copy of the 2007-08 Newport Harbor Girl's Soccer Guidelines.
10/15/07
A New Era
Well the 2007-2008 Newport Harbor Girl's Soccer Season has begun and along with a new web site there are some important changes to announce.
First off the program will assume new leadership under the direction and experience of Larry Draluck. Larry has 25 years of experience at all levels of coaching having formed the first ever high school girls team for South Pasadena way back in 1983. From there Larry went on to coach at the Division I college level at his alma mater Cal State Los Angeles (men), UC Santa Barbara, and United States International University in San Diego. Larry currently works as a local club coach for the So Cal Blues coaching the U17 and U18 girls.
"I am looking forward to the challenge of working within the community, the high school, and the girls soccer program at Newport Harbor to do all I can to help the girls achieve their individual and team goals all while having fun. I can't wait to get out on the field and share what I have learned about this great game."