The Sailors (10-1, 2-0 in league) won’t have Gilchrist in their next league match. And it doesn’t seem to matter because they appear on their way to claiming a fourth Sunset League title in as many seasons.
Gilchrist on Saturday leaves for New Zealand, where she will compete with the USA surf team at the Quiksilver International Surfing Assn. World Junior Championships from Jan. 18-28. There is some confusion regarding what time the flight departs and if Gilchrist can play with Newport Harbor on the day she leaves.
Saturday will be the second day the Sailors will be at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. Coach Bill Barnett expects the team to contend for the tournament title that day.
Whether Gilchrist will be available, Barnett said he didn’t know.
“I don’t know [what] her reservations are,” said Barnett, who is certain about what time international flights going to New Zealand usually leave Los Angeles International Airport. “The planes for New Zealand don’t leave until 10 at night.”
The Sailors have a couple of days to work out the scheduling kinks. That seems to be the only issue with Newport Harbor these days.
The rest has been relatively simple for the Sailors, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll.
Newport Harbor won its third straight game after losing to top-ranked Dos Pueblos of Goleta on Dec. 31. Goalie Krissy Burger and the Sailors’ vaunted defense slowed down an Edison team that averaged 13 goals per game during a four-game winning streak.
The team that was supposed to give Newport Harbor a challenge after Los Alamitos went into overtime with the Sailors in the league opener last week, was non-existent in the first period. During the seven-minute stretch, Coach Diggy Riley said his Chargers (13-4, 1-1) were lost.
