Written By: Delaney Knipp

For Newport Harbor High School’s 2017-2018 girls’ soccer team, this season was about taking the game in stride to learn and have fun. They came into the season having lost a few key players such as Sianna Siemonsma, who is currently playing for the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, and Emily Johnson, but this year’s team included a young core of freshmen and sophomores who will help the program grow in their next years at Harbor. Elizabeth Peters, a sophomore on the team says, “It will allow us to build upon the team chemistry established this year.” At the end of the season, the team will say goodbye to its seniors, including Scout Farmer, Ashlee Young, Andie Lee, Ryah Montano, Bryana Esparza and Nicole Crane.

Although the girls went 1-7-2 in league this season, there were many team highlights that resulted from hard work and dedication. One highlight was the winning of the Best in the West Winter Soccer Classic at both the varsity and frosh/soph level. For the varsity squad, the tournament win was secured after beating Beckman 3-1, with two goals scored by Farmer and a goal by sophomore Makenzie Trigo off of an assist from teammate Nicole Laz. Farmer, a senior captain of the team, recently signed to play NCAA collegiate soccer with Concordia University Irvine and was named the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week in late December.

However, the most important victories of the season were often not game related. “My favorite part of the team this year was getting to know my teammates better,” says Peters. Despite the diversity of grade levels on the team that included all four grades, the girls all became very close very quickly. Whether it was taking a team beach day or dying their coach’s beard pink, the team always had a good time. While this year was not their strongest Sunset League season, the team is fired up to come back in the 2018-2019 season and show some real competition.