By Karen Phan, Opinion Editor
This afternoon, the girls’ varsity field hockey team suffered a tough 0-2 loss to the Newport Harbor High School Sailors.
Newport Harbor began with a short corner during the first minute, evidently setting the tempo for the rest of the game. In the eighth minute, the Sailors scored their first goal in their third short corner.
“We made a lot of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made,” Head Coach Nancy Mendez said.
The Sailors maintained their overwhelming pressure against the Barons as they played with high intensity and made good passes and runs. Fountain Valley struggled to overcome Newport Harbor’s agrresion, but the Barons managed to play in the Sailors’ territory for brief periods during the half.
Fountain Valley gave up a second goal in the 22th minute when Newport Harbor made a clean shot into the Barons’ cage, bringing the score to 0-2. The Sailors played in the Barons’ territory for the rest of the half.
“During the first half, we weren’t connecting passing, we weren’t mentally there,” Mendez said. “The desire to win wasn’t there.”
The second half began in the same manner as the first with Newport Harbor in possession of the ball. Led by senior forward Madison Grogan, the Barons generated some offensive pressure throughout the half on the Sailors they but were quickly rejected.
“They picked it up a bit during the second half but they were still shaky,” Mendez said.
Despite their upper hand and continuous shots on goal, the Sailors could not score. Newport Harbor ended the game with the same offensive pressure they had when they began playing; they were awarded a short corner that went on after time expired and nearly resulted in a goal, but the ball ricocheted off the left post of the cage. The Barons lost with a final score of 0-2.
“[One of our goals] is to make it to playoffs. We have to beat Newport Harbor [High School] next time, then Great Oak [High School] and Westminster [High School] again,” Mendez said. “We need to play with the heart and desire to go out and get to playoffs, because if we’re not mentally ready, we’re not going to achieve our goals.”
The Lady Barons will play Westminster High School next Monday at 3:15 p.m.
