Girls field hockey: Sailors suffer first league loss

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Somebody is a little sore today.

Edison High definitely put the hurt on Newport Harbor’s girls field

hockey team with a damaging 2-0 Sunset League victory over the Sailors

Thursday at Harper Community Center.

Harbor received its first league loss of the season as Edison

controlled the match. The Sailors failed to play their game -- attack,

defend and frustrate.

“There was something lacking,” Harbor Coach Sharon Wolfe said. “We

normally play with more intensity.”

The Sailors were shut out for the first time this season. And the

Chargers scored more than one goal against Harbor, another rarity for the

Sailors.

Harbor, however, remains in first place in the Sunset League with an

11-1 record as Edison trails, now alone in second place, at 8-2-2 with

two games remaining.

Newport’s magic number is one, any Newport win or Edison loss clinches

it.

“We’re still on top,” Wolfe said. “People have to chase us.”

The Sailors appeared to be chasing the Chargers on Thursday. Edison,

the defending Sunset League champions, scored 19 minutes into the match

when Jasmine Pearson finished off a cross from Crissy Pronier.

The Chargers controlled the first half so much that Harbor’s offense

never crossed midfield until 13 minutes into the match. The Sailors

didn’t get a shot on goal in the first half.

Harbor never threatened until 15:45 remaining when Elizabeth Evans

struck an attempt, but Edison goalie Haleh Khosrowpour kicked it away.

“(The loss) does give us a reality check,” Harbor team captain Allison

McKenzie said. “We know now that we have to keep on fighting. This isn’t

going to be something that is handed to us on a silver platter. We have

to work for it.”

Edison scored again in the second half as Nicole Harrison snuck one in

to give the Chargers breathing room.

The teams battled with rough, physical play in that second half. There

was high sticking, body checks, and even some trash talking.

One player from each team left with an injury. Edison’s Nancy

Inocencio, her left hand dangling, cried on the sideline as people tended

to bloodied cuts on her fingers. Harbor junior Lauren Birchfield also

received a cut to her right hand and left the game crying in pain.

The mayhem led to a stoppage of play when referee Jocelyn Bennett blew

her whistle”Just calm down everybody,” she told the teams.

Harbor eased its play but continued to attack. The Sailors ended the

match with four shots on goal.

“I’m proud of the way we played,” Wolfe said. “We didn’t play down to

their level. They were rude and there was a lot of trash talking from

their side.”

Wolfe also said she would give her team the day off today after such a

brutal contest.

Harbor players also thought the match was rough.

“It was a really violent game,” Birchfield said. “We had to go in real

hard because they were playing dirty.”

Prior to this season, the Chargers had been undefeated for the past

two years. The Sailors dealt Edison its first lost, 1-0, earlier in the

season.