Earlier Saturday, the Sailors lost to eventual tournament champion Dos Pueblos, 10-6, in a semifinal. Nobody could stop the Chargers, who beat Laguna Beach, 13-6, in the final. That was nothing new as it was the 61st straight win for Dos Pueblos, the two-time defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion.
But the fourth-seeded Sailors (20-5) didn't stay down after their second loss of the season to the Chargers. They came back to beat the third-seeded Dons for the second time this year.
"We just worked really well as a team," said senior Mary Rose Wight, who scored twice against Santa Barbara. "We came in fourth [in this tournament] last year and we wanted to do better. We got third this year, so we're really happy about that."
The Sailors shared the ball; Wight was the only one with more than one goal against Santa Barbara. Carpenter, Obenauer, Carly Christian, Allyson Hall, Sophie Leveque and Presley Pender all scored single goals, and Wilkey made 13 saves.
"That's perfect," Coach Bill Barnett said of the balanced scoring. "[The game] was a little ragged at times. We had Wilkey in the goal, and that was a big difference, I thought."
Newport Harbor never trailed in the second half, although Santa Barbara made it interesting when sophomore Kelsey O'Brien (three goals) scored bar-in with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter.
But then Christian made a strong drive into the middle and was found by Carpenter. Christian put it away with 3:01 left, giving the Sailors a two-goal cushion again.
Sophomore Elissia Schilling had three steals to lead the team's defensive effort.
