Cleo Harrington embraced a teammate after the final buzzer and twirled her in a circle near the Newport Harbor bench.
Kate Pipkin looked so delighted, a spectator marveled at her smile.
Rising from the doldrums to post an upset in the playoffs certainly elevated the Sailors on Saturday.
They emerged from a small funk by defeating second-seeded Foothill, 5-4, in a Division 1 quarterfinal at Newport Harbor.
Attacker Ellie Reid snapped a 4-4 deadlock with a power-play strike with 2:24 left in the fourth and the seventh-seeded Sailors won the battle of defenses to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals. Newport Harbor (22-7) will take on No. 6 Santa Barbara, which beat defending champion and host Corona del Mar, 10-9, in sudden-death overtime.
Heidi Fults sealed Newport Harbor’s victory with a steal with seven seconds left.
Newport Harbor didn’t look like a semifinalist two weeks ago when it lost to Foothill and Corona del Mar on the final day of the SoCal tournament. The Sailors lost their grip on the Sunset League on Feb. 12, falling to Los Alamitos.
But behind two goals apiece by Christina O’Beck and Fults and strong team defense, the Sailors bounced back against Foothill (23-6).
“I think we were tired of letting ourselves down,” said Pipkin, who had six steals and assisted Reid’s winning goal. “We were beating ourselves up, so we needed to bring in this mindset that we need to try our hardest. We need to motivate each other.”
Newport Harbor’s unity was visible on defense. The Sailors used Rachel Whitelegge, Chanel Schilling, Pipkin and Fults to help hold high-scoring center Cana Manzella to one goal, which came off a drive in the second.
Newport Harbor, meanwhile, got goals at 2-meters from O’Beck and Fults.
Harrington made eight saves in the first half while Newport Harbor’s Carlee Kapana made four in the second half. The Sailors also blanked Foothill for the final 8:17 after Sydney Groot tied the score, 4-4, with a power-play goal late in the third.
Foothill finished 2 for 4 on the power-play; Newport Harbor went 3 for 8.
Emily Konishi paced the Knights’ attack with two goals before fouling out while Kenzi Snyder made eight saves.
Also in Division 1:
Santa Barbara 10, Corona del Mar 9: Jessie Brummett scored with 31 seconds left in the first sudden-death overtime to lead the visiting Dons past the defending Division 1 champion and host Sea Kings. Maddie Musselman scored with 12 seconds left in the fourth period to give Corona del Mar a 7-6 lead but Jessica Gaffney put away a rebound with four seconds left to force overtime.
Los Alamitos 10, San Marcos 7: Makenna Oberst, Erika Pauley, Corinna Toledo and Ella Weber each scored in the fourth for the Griffins (22-8) at Newport Harbor. The score was tied, 6-6, entering the final period.
Laguna Beach 20, Irvine 1: Makenzie Fischer had six goals for the host Breakers (28-1), who play Los Al in the semifinals.
In other quarterfinals:
In Division 2:
Santa Margarita 9, El Toro 5: Kacey Avalos scored three goals to lead the visiting Eagles (22-6) into the semifinals against Murrieta Valley, which advanced with an 11-7 victory against Agoura. Santa Margarita led, 7-3, enter the fourth period and held the Chargers to a 1 for 8 effort on the power-play.
“We controlled the whole game and El Toro had been playing pretty well recently,” Santa Margarita coach Brian Weathersby said.
Mater Dei 13, Long Beach Wilson 8: Anna Politiski made a season-high 18 saves for the host Monarchs (25-6), who next play Montebello, a 10-9 winner against Rosary.
In Division 4:
Troy 11, Capistrano Valley 6: Minna Mattis and Marissa Vaccher each scored three goals for the visiting Warriors (22-9), who next play Los Altos of Hacienda Heights, which rallied for an 11-10 winner against visiting Aliso Niguel.
South Pasadena 12, Mission Viejo 8: UCLA-bound Devin Grab scored six goals, drew four ejections and recorded three field blocks at Aliso Niguel to lead South Pasadena into the semifinals against La Serna, which upset top-seeded Bonita. Mission Viejo trailed, 11-4, early in the fourth but trimmed the deficit to 11-8 on a strike by Allie Moore from 8 meters with 2:57 left.
In Division 6:
Pacifica 13, Mayfield of Pasadena 5: Nicole McConnaughey made 14 saves for the visiting Mariners (18-13), who next play Palm Desert, a 15-3 winner against Savanna.
Yorba Linda 10, Santa Monica 5: Amy Castellano scored four goals and Burdie Forsch added three to lead the top-seeded and visiting Mustangs. Yorba Linda plays Pasadena Poly in the semifinals Wednesday.
In Division 7:
Ocean View 10, Notre Dame of Riverside 7: Elena Isogawa scored six goals — four coming on penalty shots — to lead the visiting and No. 2-seeded Seahawks (16-9), who take on No.-3 seeded La Sierra of Riveside in the semifinals Wednesday.
Segerstrom 13, Hemet 6: Nathania Cuevas and Justine Mills each scored four goals and Melissa Osorio stayed hot in goal with 11 saves to lead the host and top-seeded Jaguars (22-8) into Wednesday’s semifinals. Segerstrom will play No. 5 Chino, a 7-6 winner against Hillcrest of Riverside.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
