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NHB Black takes Wolfpack Tournament
The NHB Black players are scholar-athletes from Huntington Beach, Edison, Pacifica, Marina, Fountain Valley, Wilson, Los Alamitos, Mater Dei, and Valley Christian high schools and, with 11 new players, were playing together for the first time. The girls posted 3 wins and 1 loss in the tournament. Their lone loss was against Antelope Valley SC Ambush in their first game. The Ambush took a early 2-0 lead but as the game wore on NHB began to control possession and Caitlin Killeen (Wilson) made a great outside pass to Makena Piercy (Valley Christian) who scored with a hard shot from 15 yards out at the 50 minute mark. For the remaining 10 minutes the game was played in front the Ambush goal and NHB had several good shots but were unable to score again before time expired.
In their second game, NHB defeated Sacramento area San Juan SC Spirits 2-1 on goals by Piercy and Natalie Seckel (Mater Dei). Piercy beat the keeper one-on-one with a quick touch for the first goal and Seckel scored the second on a well placed 12 yard volley set up by a nice assist from Devon Shinn (Marina). Nicole Camarillo and Stephanie Walter (Huntington Beach) teamed with Brooke Anderson (Fountain Valley), Rebecca Devine (Wilson), and Erica Cabibbo (Mater Dei) to provide tenacious defense and possession offense that kept the Spirits on their side of the field. Shannon Bergeland and Catherine Dick (Edison) shut down the outside of the field and started the attacks that led to both of NHB’s goals.
NHB Black shut out the host Wolfpack 2-0 in their 3rd game to win the pool and advance to the championship game. Wolfpack held the advantage and had 5 corner kicks in the first 10 minues but NHB’s defense led by McDonnell did not give up any goals. In the 20th minute the game turned when Michelle Urabe (Mater Dei) beat the sweeper with an incredible spin move and dished the ball off to Dick slanting in on the left side. Dick hit a hard left for NHB’s first goal of the game. Urabe scored the second goal by beating the outside defender and hitting a far post shot from 10 yards out. The Spirits defeated the Ambush which allowed the Wolfpack a rematch with NHB in the championship game.
The championship game was fast paced and physical. Wolfpack changed tactics and played a long ball game attempting to get past NHB’s defense but the aggressive stopper/sweeper combination of Walter and Camarillo and defense back play of Cabbibo and Anderson limited the Wolfpack scoring opportunities. McDonnell sent any balls that got by the NHB defensive line back over the midfield with booming punts and most of Camarillo’s goal kicks also cleared the midfield line. The one Wolfpack scoring threat was stopped by Walter who cleared a hard shot from the mouth of NHB’s goal. Center midfielders Seckel and Shinn combined quick passes and dribbling to create several scoring chances. In the first half, Shinn beat three defenders and got off a nice shot at 10 yards but the Wolfpack keeper, Shelby Fischer (Huntington Beach), made a diving save. Outside halfbacks Bergeland, Devine, Killeen, and Dick controlled the wings and sent several balls to the corners starting attacks. The forward trio of Brink, Piercy, and Urabe created several runs but were blanked by the stellar play of Fischer. The most spectacular play of the game for both teams occurred when Urabe beat the sweeper for a breakaway and Fischer came out hard to block the shot. The game ended in a 0-0 tie and went to penalty kicks. Urabe, Camarillo, Devine, and Seckel, all connected on their attempts as did the first 3 Wolfpack players – setting up McDonnell’s diving save and Brink’s winning goal.
The upstart NHB team, coached by Kim Engesser and Lee Lottes, next plays in the Fullerton Rangers tournament on July 21 and 22, then the Cypress Cup on August 4 and 5 and finishes the summer tournament season at home in the NHB Cup on August 25 and 26.
