“One of the most exciting games I’ve ever been involved in,” said longtime Sailors Coach Bill Barnett, who jumped in the pool following the game with Sailors senior Lauren Jarvie. “It was really a team effort from everybody’s standpoint, the girls in the water and the girls on the bench. The intensity was incredible in the fourth quarter.”
Corona del Mar had a 5-2 lead headed into that fourth quarter, and Sailors senior Mimi Bury had received her third exclusion after swiping the ball away from CdM junior goalie Kate Baldoni to set up the Newport Harbor offense.
“[The referee] said that Mimi put the ball in the girl’s face,” Barnett said. “[Bury] said she was just getting the ball.”
Barnett was issued a yellow card following the third quarter for arguing with the referee about the play. But Newport Harbor (28-3) refused to fold against the second-seeded Sea Kings (24-7).
“When we have to step up, we step up to the occasion,” senior goalie Morgan Vickers said. “This being our last CIF game, it was even more reason to say, ‘Hey, we’re in the fourth quarter, there’s no way we’re going to lose this game.’ Not when we’ve worked as hard as we have, all season.”
Senior Erin Reid scored a counterattack goal with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
After a steal from sophomore Kaleigh Gilchrist, senior Kimmy Morrison scored from set to pull Newport Harbor within one, 5-4, with 2:51 left in regulation.
“We just didn’t give up,” said Reid, who scored a team-high two goals along with McCall. “We knew we had it in us to beat them. We just wanted it so bad.
