Newport Harbor girls’ soccer into first CIF final after blanking Westlake
- Share via
The Newport Harbor High girls’ soccer team came into Saturday night’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff semifinal against Westlake with a rush of adrenaline.
Not only were the Sailors in the program’s first CIF semifinal, but they had just witnessed the boys’ soccer team storm back for a dramatic 2-1 victory on the same field.
“In some ways, that really probably helped us,” Newport Harbor coach Justin Schroeder said. “It got the pregame jitters out, right? We went into this game a little loose. They felt the tension of that game, so they kind of already went through it.”
Just like the boys’ team, the girls proved that they were up to the task of knocking out the top seed in the division.
Freshman Cassie Jacoby scored a header goal midway through the second half on junior teammate Sadie Taketa’s cross from the left. It held up, with Newport Harbor earning a 1-0 win over Westlake to book its trip to its first CIF title match.
The Sailors (17-5-4) will play against Eastvale Roosevelt in the Division 1 title match on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach.
Newport Harbor heads into the final with the confidence of a team that has produced three straight shutouts — over No. 4-seeded Moorpark, Orange Lutheran and now Westlake — in the postseason.
Junior goalkeeper Aliyah Chappell and an all-junior back line of Leah Showalter, Maddy Michel and Caroline Harner has been tough for opponents to crack.
Showalter and Michel have been on varsity since they were freshmen, while Harner is a two-year starter. As for Chappell, she was cast into the starting goalkeeper position when Cooper Dick graduated early last month.
“We really focus on just our chemistry,” Showalter said. “We’ve been playing together all season, so we bond really close and we trust each other. We know that, either side of the field, we’re going to be safe and good. We’re going to make a play, no matter what.”
Jacoby, who leads the squad with 12 goals, finished off her chance in the second half with a gorgeous flick in the box. Taketa had the helper.
“I passed it to Abby [Van Exel], who was [on the] wing, and she just slipped me the most beautiful ball on the planet,” Taketa said. “I was like, I’m going to one-touch it, because I know Cassie can finish it.”
Sure enough, she did after Jacoby made a front-post run.
“It was just amazing,” Jacoby said. “There’s no real words to explain the excitement that I felt.”
The Sailors survived some nervous moments near the end, including a boot from about 25 yards out in the final 10 minutes by Westlake senior Cayden Chowana that caromed off the left goalpost.
Senior Grace Wetzel was another player who consistently put pressure on the Sailors for Westlake (15-3-1), which had a seven-match winning streak snapped.
Newport Harbor has faced Roosevelt before this season, a 1-0 loss in the Best in the West Tournament that the Sailors host on Dec. 20. In that match, Roosevelt had three-time All-CIF selection Ireland Churchill, who graduated early and now attends Texas A&M.
Whatever faces the Sailors see across from them on Saturday, they are confident, despite being in uncharted territory.
“We just take it game after game, just use the momentum from the last game and believe in ourselves,” Showalter said. “We came in as a new team. We lost 17 seniors, so we kind of just wanted to make something new, especially since we got a lot of new players. We wanted to build our own path. I mean, we’re going to the finals, so it’s worked out pretty well for us.”
Ocean View 1, Palmdale Aerospace Academy 0: Senior midfielder Charlotte Johnson scored on a second half free kick from about 25 yards out for the Seahawks in a Division 6 semifinal game on the road on Saturday.
Like Newport Harbor, Ocean View (13-6-3) has reached the first CIF final in program history. The Seahawks will host Orange Coast League rival Segerstrom in the Division 6 championship match on Friday at 5 p.m.
Segerstrom beat Ocean View twice during league, 2-0 and 1-0, for the league title.
