Sailors stay perfect in Sunset
The Newport Harbor High boys’ lacrosse team is one win away from completing its second straight undefeated Sunset League title.
Finishing perfect in league can only bode well for the Sailors’ chances of opening the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division playoffs at home.
The Sailors improved to 7-0 in league with a 14-10 win against Huntington Beach at Jim Scott Stadium on a windy and cold Wednesday night.
Newport Harbor, which is 9-6 overall, returns to the same field Friday in a regular-season finale against Marina at 7 p.m. A win on senior night and Coach Mark Todd hopes his Sailors earn the No. 8 seed in next week’s 16-team tournament bracket.
“The Sunset League has definitely improved and the league is definitely a very physical league, which makes it very tough to go undefeated in,” said Todd, who will find out on Saturday where his team is seeded. “I just want to go uninjured [into the playoffs].”
If they get to play at home in the postseason, Todd said the first-round game wouldn’t be at Estancia High, where the Sailors have played five of their six home games this year because of the renovations to Newport Harbor’s Davidson Field.
“We won’t be able to play the game here because Estancia is booked, so we’re going to play it on our practice field, [which is] next to Davidson [Field],” Todd said. “That would truly be a home-field advantage. It’s like a sandlot.”
Things looked a little unorganized on the turf at Jim Scott Stadium. The Oilers had a hard time slowing down Dane Flinn and Patrick Lynch, who finished with five and four goals, respectively.
Huntington Beach (7-9, 1-6 in league) came in with nothing to lose, yet it struck first.
Leo Leighton found the back of the net a little more than 3½ minutes in, prompting the Sailors to call a timeout. Todd gathered his players, telling them the slow start was unacceptable with the postseason beginning next week.
Newport Harbor responded with some good defense, as goalie John Jasper prevented Huntington Beach from taking a 2-0 lead by stopping a shot with less than three minutes left in the first quarter. Newport Harbor’s offense elevated its game in the final 76 seconds.
The Sailors scored three goals late, Kyle Duffy off an assist by Lynch, followed by an unassisted goal by Flinn and a goal by Lynch from an assist from Alex Pearce. The third goal came on a man-up advantage with five seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Todd appeared happy with the Sailors going into the second quarter with a 3-1 lead. The visitors trimmed the lead to one early in the second quarter, when Kyle Henriksen found the back of the net.
Flinn put Newport Harbor back up by two with his second unassisted goal. The 4-2 lead didn’t hold up.
While the Sailors did a good job denying the Oilers on their first two-man up advantages midway through the second quarter, Huntington Beach still managed to even things up. At even strength, Alex Bonakdar and Grant Feiwell each produced a goal in a span of 91 seconds to make it a 4-4 affair.
After back-to-back timeouts by the Oilers during an 11-second stretch, they took their first lead. Leighton scored near the crease with 4:08 left in the first half.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to go back on top. Race Mooers and Hunter Rouch each put away a shot, giving Newport Harbor a 6-5 advantage. The score stayed that way with the defense clamping down on the Oilers’ third man-up advantage in the final minute.
At the beginning of the second half, Flinn beat goalie Grady Mercier. Flinn delivered his third unassisted goal in traffic while Leighton slashed him.
Leighton left the field for a one-minute penalty, and instead of the Sailors capitalizing, Huntington Beach did. Ayden Colbert scored with 8:51 left in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 7-6 despite the Oilers playing a man down.
Lynch and Flinn created some separation. The two scored two goals apiece in the final seven minutes of the third quarter, extending Newport Harbor’s lead to 11-6.
They put things away, with the help of the Pearce twins, Alex and Chandler. The Pearce brothers had the assists on three of those four goals, two going to Alex, who finished with three assists and four ground balls, and one to Chandler.
Early in the fourth, Chandler, whom had five ground balls and two assists, scored on a man-up situation. Flinn set the goal up, and Newport Harbor went three for five on the man-up advantage, while the Oilers only converted one of four tries.
The Sailors look to finish flawless in league for the second year in a row, which would be a first for the program.
“We just hope to get another strong win, so we can get a better seed in the playoffs,” said Flinn, who hasn’t forgotten how the No. 11-seeded Sailors lost at No. 6 Trabuco Hills, 11-2, in the first round last year. “I remember just me and Max Durante each had a goal, and after that it was just a storm of just getting scored on. We’re definitely a better team [this year going into the playoffs].”
