Newport Harbor boys’ soccer earns Battle of the Bay sweep
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Two gorgeous crosses produced impeccable goals as Newport Harbor’s boys’ soccer team completed a Battle of the Bay sweep Friday night with a deserved 2-0 Sunset League triumph over Corona del Mar.
More important, Newport Harbor (5-8, 4-6 in the Sunset League) nudged closer to a playoff berth — and maybe a shot at another CIF Southern Section championship — by leapfrogging Los Alamitos (4-8-5, 3-5-1) in the fight for fourth place with a week and a half to go.
Landon Baker in the 14th minute and Pierce Brown nine minutes later put away the strikes, both with deft headers, and Newport Harbor’s resolute play in the defensive third — after three early scares — prevented visiting Corona del Mar (3-11, 2-8) from doing much about it.
The Sailors, who lost nearly all of the chief figures from last year’s Division 2 title and successive Southern California Regional appearances, haven’t missed the postseason since 2019, and head coach Ignacio Cid figures they’re headed to a lower division, somewhere below Division 3, should they make it this year. They could prosper, for real, at that level.
“The boys are still in the hunt,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The math is cloudy. Newport Harbor, a 1-0 winner in the first meeting just before Christmas, jumped two points ahead of Los Alamitos. The Griffins, who dropped a 1-0 overtime decision at second-place Fountain Valley (9-3, 8-1) on Umad Majid’s goal, have a game in hand and simpler route. It likely comes down to what they do next Friday at home against Corona del Mar.
“[CdM has] good players. They can sneak one in, you never know,” said Cid, whose staff at club power Pateadores includes first-year Sea Kings head coach Scott Nickerson. “This league has a way [of odd finishes]. Every year, it seems like the last few games, something weird happens.”
Newport Harbor finishes next week at first-place Edison (10-4-1, 9-0-1 with a plus-34 goal differential) and against winless Marina. That likely adds up to three points. Los Alamitos plays at third-place Huntington Beach (10-6-3, 6-3) — the Oilers won the first meeting, 1-0 — before CdM visits, then finishes Feb. 4 against Marina.
The Griffins have been on the rise since six transfers became eligible earlier this month, routing Newport Harbor, 3-0, on Jan. 15, then playing a scoreless draw last week at Edison. They need five points — two wins, or a win and two ties — to clinch if the Sailors claim just the expected three.
It makes the Edison game vital for Newport Harbor. The Chargers have been dominant in league play and made it a two-team race with a 3-2 victory Friday over Huntington Beach, the goals coming from Micah Novak, Luke White and Dylan Petruolo.
“Our ultimate goal is to make CIF,” said Sailors holding midfielder Jared Moctezuma, who played a big role in limiting Corona del Mar to one shot on target. “This was a huge win for us. I feel we’re on track now and have the possibility to do something.
“Edison will be a tough game, but we’re hot now. We just beat Corona del Mar. We’ll try our best.”
The Sailors were far sharper in the first half, finding chances largely through outside backs Kingston Wolfshagen’s and Dominic Lucarelli’s flank penetration.
Wolfshagen, on the left, fed Baker’s remarkable goal. The junior midfielder put a glancing header inside the right post as he was being dragged down mid-box. Cid called it “a very complicated and difficult thing for a player to do. Technically hard.”
Brown got his head to Lucarelli’s right-wing cross, blistering it into the net above the near post.
Corona del Mar, with holding midfielder Alvaro Prieto the driving force, had far more of the ball after the break but was inefficient in the final third. Harbor tightened space after going ahead and following three Sea Kings openings in the first 20 minutes, the best a seventh-minute Rod Fabregas takeaway with a clear path on goal. Hayden Baker, the Sailors’ back-line general, pulled him down, picking up a yellow card.
CdM’s defeat was amplified by what appeared to be a significant, non-contact knee injury to junior goalkeeper Brendon Cheng, a halftime substitute who kept the Sea Kings in the game by defusing chaotic situations.
The Sea Kings, in a rebuilding campaign, will miss the playoffs for the fourth time since the pandemic.
“The ball hasn’t bounced our way in some games this year, losing close games to top teams. We’re building on it,” Nickerson said. “We have two games left, so looking to get some positive results and build off of that for next year.”
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