By Brandon Nguyen
This afternoon, the girls’ varsity soccer team played Newport Harbor and ended with a 0-2 defeat.
The first half started off with Newport putting strong pressure against Fountain Valley. Four minutes into the game, Newport shot two times at the goal but was blocked by senior Bianca Fernandez, the goalie.
The game continued with Newport staying on the offensive with Barons unable to push the ball past midfield. After a series of coordinated passes between Newport players, they got close to the goal and score, leading the Barons 0-1.
The Barons responded by playing more aggressively. Junior Katrina Vidal stole the ball from Newport and pushed it down the field. She passed it to senior Hailey DeMaria, where she faced off in a scuffle against a Newport player. DeMaria found an opening and passed it to junior Karlee Giuntoli, who took a shot at Newport’s goal but missed.
“We weren’t able to connect balls and work together as a team. We were kicking the ball to nobody and couldn’t make up that lost distance when Newport managed to work together,” DeMaria said.
The action continued with Newport on the offense. After multiple attempts to shoot, Newport found a wide opening and kicked the ball in, with halftime ending 0-2.
The second half again started off with Newport on the immediate offensive and another attempt to score but they were blocked by junior Kyla Holt. The Barons struggled to gain control of the ball with Newport almost managing to headbutt the ball into the goal.
The intensity increased as the Barons strengthened their defense and Newport kept a coordinated offense. Fernandez continually blocked balls and in the 65th minute kicked it far outward. The ball fell into the possession of freshman Irandy Erazo, who went on the offensive. A contentious scuffle followed that gave Giuntoli an injury that led to her being taken out of the game.
“Near the second half, I think we started to get more aggressive and were no longer waiting for the ball to come to us. It was really tiring to continually get shot at, but it’s part of being a goalie and feels good when you succeed at blocking,” Fernandez said.
Newport regained control and was able to repeatedly get near the goal, putting pressure on Fernandez. The game remained at an impasse with the Barons defense preventing Newport from scoring any more goals. The game ended with a final score of 0-2.
“The effort was always there. There were times where we would have played more as a team and find each other’s feet. It didn’t happen for us today, but we’re happy with the effort and we know to work on passes,” assistant coach Jamie Bald said.
This was the girls third Wave League match making their record 0-3. The girls’ next game is April 20 against Edison.
