Pilot Cup: Morin pulls double duty
Had Wednesday’s Daily Pilot Cup girls’ fifth- and sixth-grade Gold Division soccer game between Harbor Day School and Mariners Christian been scored according to baseball rules, Harbor Day’s Izzy Morin might have been credited with a win and a save.
Morin capped her team’s furious flurry of first-half scoring chances by breaking a scoreless deadlock in the 22nd minute.
She then donned goalkeeper gloves for the second half to help finish off the shutout in a 2-0 pool-play triumph at Jack Hammett Sports Complex.
Natalia Bryant added an insurance goal in the 47th minute to help the Seahawks prevail in a game that was not as close as the score might indicate.
Mariners Christian had just five shots and Morin recorded two of the Seahawks’ three saves.
But Morin was on the offensive end of the attack in the opening half and was a significant part of an onslaught of a half-dozen shots in the initial 10 minutes.
Morin and Shauna Bahri made spectators gasp over near-misses in the opening stages, as Harbor Day not only maintained possession, but almost continuously kept the ball in the attacking third.
Finally, a through ball by Zoe Stern made its way to Morin, who had broken behind the defense. Morin ran onto the pass and popped it into the net for all her team would need.
Bryant, with her famous father and Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe cheering enthusiastically from near the midfield stripe, took a rolling cross from Lauren Gehl while gliding toward the goal about 12 yards out. Natalia Bryant, positioned directly between the goal posts, hit the ball squarely with her right foot, producing a booming dead-center drive that tucked about three feet under the crossbar to double the score.
Bryant’s blast was the last of Harbor Day’s 15 shots.
Gehl started in goal for the winners, who benefited from the work of a starting back line that included Ashley Gehl, Ruby Hammond and Lennoz Schilleroff.
Jenna McConnaughey, Lilly Warmington, Sabrina Neuschel and Shayda Shakoori also contributed to Harbor Day’s dominance in its first game of the tournament.
“I was very proud of how well the girls were playing together,” Harbor Day Coach Doug McConnaughey said of his squad’s strong start. “They were playing hard, but our shots just didn’t go our way in the beginning. We got one goal in, which was really nice to get the pressure off. But we kept putting the pressure on them. I was really proud of how well the girls were playing. They were hustling.”
Mariner Christian, which fell to Newport Coast, 5-0, in its first game on Tuesday, was not without its bursts of hustle as well.
Club soccer veterans Buzé Harrison and Sabrina Nesbitt, as well as Juliette Hill, who Lions Coach Josh Harrison said had played club soccer before converting to water polo, led the way for Mariners Christian.
Buzé Harrison laced a free kick from the top of the box that Morin batted away with two hands early in the second half.
Hill directed a shot across the cage that rolled just wide of the right goal post about midway through the second half and Nesbitt drove a free kick that Morin short-hopped for a save in the waning moments.
“[The Lions] played really hard,” Josh Harrison said. “They played a man down the whole game and I thought that was a great effort against a really good team. We have some seasoned players and we have some who are out there for the first time. But they all really worked hard.”
Also contributing for Mariners Christian weer Ruby Morgan, Reilly Davis, Lauren Ewanick, Kathryn Lynch, Mia Collier, Anna Eddy and Olivia Anderson.
Pool play continues Thursday and Friday, with the championship rounds being contested Saturday and Sunday.