By DAN ALBANO
OCVarsity.com

   NEWPORT BEACH Notes and observations from Day 2 of a memorable Holiday Cup:

   SEMIFINAL #1: DOS PUEBLOS 7, NEWPORT HARBOR 6

   KEY STATS: Newport Harbor outshot Dos Pueblos, 31-14.
   The Sailors took many of their shots from the perimeter and had trouble with accuracy and goalie Sami Hill (15 saves).
   Newport Harbor forced eight turnovers in the fourth period but went 0 for 9 shooting.
   Sailors coach Bill Barnett thought his team was impatient with its chances on the counterattack in the final period.
   "We didn't execute very well, especially down the stretch," Barnett said.
   Said DP coach Danelle Little, "If those shots were on, it could have been a very different game."

   MORE KEY STATS: Newport Harbor went 1 for 4 with the extra attacker.
   The Sailors missed one chance in the third when Hill had been excluded and two field players -- Kiley Neushul and Tiera Schroeder -- went in the cage.
   DP went 1 for 5 on extra but went 2 for 2 on penalty shots thanks to Neushul.

   CRITICAL MOMENT: Newport Harbor's Stanford-bound Mimi Bury fouled out seconds into the third period.
   The Sailors not only lost some of their inside punch but a top defender to assign to rising freshman Neushul.
   Barnett said in hindsight that he maybe should have sat Bury after she picked up her second foul with 4:34 left in the second.
   The coach said he also maybe should have switched Bury off Neushul, who earned the third ejection.

   BIG BLOCKS: Hill is my pick for tournament MVP. She made a key point-save against Newport's power-play in the first period.
   She then stopped Kate Klippert on a one-on-nobody counterattack in the second.

   NO TIMEOUTS: Little shared my surprise that Newport didn't burn a single timeout.
   Barnett said he wanted his team to figure out some things for itself. He also thought some of the matchups on the counterattack were too favorable to take a timeout.
   Barnett later added he was pumped to play DP.
   "I wanted to play them because they beat us in the summer," he said.

   WISE BEYOND THEIR YEARS: Dos Pueblos started two freshmen and three sophomores but had plenty of big-game experience from the Junior Olympics during the summer.
   Hill, Schroeder and Neushel all played for the Santa Barbara club that won the 18-and-unders.  Sophomores Amanda Redfern and Alex Hill played in the 16s.
   "They have a lot of experience under pressure," Little said.
   Said Neushul, "I think we were really active on offense and on defense, we really helped each other out."

   NEW POWER: The 5-foot-7 Neushul said she decided to attend DP was several reasons.
   She liked the school, the proximity to her house (five minutes), the school's new pool, Little and the fact she had more friends at DP.
   The school with the most tradition in the area is Santa Barbara but the balance of power might be changing.
   Power-shifts have happened before. A few years ago, the club stars from Commerce starting showing up at Montebello instead of Bell Gardens.
   The athletic Neushul has played soccer and basketball.

   THE KID: Barnett on Neushul, "She's a great player."
   Neushul's father, Peter, once played for Barnett as a national B team member.

   CRITICAL MOMENT: Briitany Zwirner scored the only goal of overtime on a penalty shot with 1:31 left in the first extra period.
   USC-bound senior Emily Klug drew the 5-meter.

   CRITICAL MOMENT #2: Elise Molnar played some solid 2-meter defense for CdM but also forced overtime by scoring with 20 seconds left in regulation.  

   KEY STATS: Foothill outshot DP, 32-21, but like Newport, came up short.
   DP again played strong help defense and allowed Foothill just one power play.
   Foothill also led only once at 1-0. DP answered with four straight goals.
   "They're a legit team and they are only going to get better," Foothill coach Dave Mikesell said.

   FANCY PASSING: Klug is attracting tons of attention from defenses but Foothill showed at times that it can counter the strategy.
   Early it the third, Klug kicked the ball out from center to Kari Krumpholz on the wing. Krumpholz then threw a pass to the far post for Katie Groff, who scored.

   THE KID #2: Mikesell said Neushul reminds him of Ericka Lorenz when the U.S. national teamer was in high school at Patrick Henry. "The kid has all the tools," he said.

   HANGING TOUGH: Foothill goalie Katie Avetoom seemed to have Neushul's number on a few point-blank chances. "She's really good on one-on-nobodies," Mikesell said of Avetoom.  

   Field player rankings
   1. Kiley Neushul, Dos Pueblos, Fr.
   2. Emily Klug, Foothill, Sr,
   3. Heather Van Hiel, Corona del Mar, Jr.
   4. Kendall Wootten, Long Beach Wilson, Sr.

   5. Nina McCall, Newport Harbor, Jr.
   
   6. Tiera Schroeder, Dos Pueblos, Fr.