NHB Black wins titles

The North Huntington Beach Black girls’ Under-16 soccer team defeated host Wolfpack on penalty kicks last weekend to claim the 2007 Wolfpack Invitational tournament title at UC Irvine.

NHB Black, which went 3-1 in the tournament, is composed of players from Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Stanton and Long Beach who are prep scholar-athletes at Edison, Huntington Beach, Marina, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Mater Dei, Pacifica, Long Beach Wilson and Valley Christian.

NHB Black is coached by Kim Engesser and Lee Lottes.

Championship final

After goalie Megan McDonnell (Long Beach Wilson) made a diving, finger-tip save on the Wolfpack’s fourth penalty kick, teammate Cheyenne Brink (Pacifica) converted the game-deciding kick to lift NHB to the title.

Early in the game, the lone Wolfpack scoring threat was stopped by Stephanie Walter (Huntington Beach) who cleared a hard shot from the mouth of the NHB goal.

Also in the first half, Wolfpack keeper Shelby Fischer (Huntington Beach) made a diving save on a kick by Devon Shinn (Marina) who had beaten three Wolfpack defenders to set up a shot on goal from 10 yards out

NHB’s Michelle Urabe (Mater Dei) made one of the match’s outstanding plays when she beat the Wolfpack sweeper for a breakaway, but Fischer came out hard to block Urabe’s shot.

The game ended scoreless through regulation play. In the penalty kicks phase, Camarillo, Devine and Seckel all connected on their attempts for NHB. Wolfpack also converted their first three shots, setting up McDonnell’s diving save and Brink’s winning goal.

NHB 2, San Juan 1

Makena Piercy and Natalie Seckel (Mater Dei) scored goals as NHB notched its first win by defeating the Spirits of northern California. Devon Shinn (Marina) assisted Seckel’s goal.

The defensive and offensive play of Nicole Camarillo (Huntington Beach), Stephanie Walter (Huntington Beach), Brooke Anderson (Fountain Valley), Rebecca Devine (Long Beach Wilson) and Erica Cabibbo (Mater Dei) also played a key role in the victory.

Shannon Bergeland (Edison) and Catherine Dick (Edison) shut down the outside of the field and started the attacks that led to both NHB goals.

NHB 2, Wolfpack 0

In their final pool play game, NHB earned a shutout over the Wolfpak to win their pool and advance to the championship game.

Wolfpack got off five corner kicks in the first 10 minutes of the game but the NHB defense, led by Megan McDonnell, didn’t surrender a single goal.

In the 20th minute, NHB gained the upper hand when Michelle Urabe beat the Wolfpack sweeper on a spin move, dished the ball off to Catherine Dick who scored on a hard left to make it 1-0.

Urabe scored the second goal by beating the outside defender and hitting a far post shot from 10 yards out.

Despite Wolfpack’s loss, the two teams were headed for a rematch in the title game after the San Juan Spirits defeated the Antelope valley Ambush.

In 12-and-Under action

NHB Black went undefeated and won its division at the Wolfpack Invitational soccer tournament at UC Irvine.

NHB 4, Wolfpack 0

In the title match, which allowed just one goal in four matches played, NHB shutout the Wolfpack Wolverines behind a stingy defense and the play of keeper Alison Jahansouz.

Lisa Fast fired a 25-yard shot over the Wolfpack goalkeeper’s reach midway through the first half to give NHB a 1-0 lead.

Katie Gainous and Alex Karlowitsch scored in the second half and the fourth goal came via an own-goal deflection by the Wolfpack.

NHB 6, Glendora Futbol Club 0

NHB used three goals by Kirstyn Nold and one by Alex Karlowitsch to open up a 4-0 halftime lead, and second-half scores by Mackenzie Certa and Madison Gioia capped the easy victory.

The 12-and-Under team is Mackenzie Certa, Adalie Espinoza, Cassie Macy, Kirstyn Nold, Alex Karlowitsch, Raya Young, Alison Jahansouz, Janae Megorden, Lisa Fast, Lindsey Archer, Katie Gainous, Christina Sanchez, Madison Gioia, Sarah Riley, Nikki Duron, Coach Daniel Montoya, Assistant Coach Eddie Sanchez and Manager Pat Archer.