The Newport Harbor Field Hockey Banquet is tonight!
Just in case you need another look at the details:
Thursday, November 17
6:00 p.m.
St. Andrew’s Student Center
600 Irvine Avenue, Newport Beach 92663
$20 per person (coaches and players are free)
Please bring checks tonight if you haven’t sent them in the mail.
Frosh/Soph Team brings Dessert (bite size pieces)
JV Team brings Drinks
See you tonight!
Senior captain Sophie Evans was honored with Daily Pilot’s Athlete of the Week today! Congrats Sophie!
Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the WeekDaily Pilot | Matt Szabo
Two of the best days of the year happen in November for Newport Harbor High senior Sophie Evans.
It’s hard to beat going out on top in high school field hockey. She did that Nov. 3, helping Newport Harbor top rival Huntington Beach, 2-0, in the Los Angeles Field Hockey Assn. Tournament of Champions title game.
The Sailors collected their fourth straight TOC title. Evans, a midfielder, collected MVP honors for the entire tournament.
In less than two weeks it’s Thanksgiving, and that’s another great day for Evans. After all, she’s the girl who says her favorite food is Thanksgiving dinner.
This year Evans will not be feeling tired off some Tryptophan. She’ll be on the road for the holiday, in Phoenix for a club field hockey festival with the Mulligan Divots.
“I’ll probably get some takeout or something,” she said.
Evans can still count her blessings. In terms of field hockey, she has so much for which to be thankful.
The Sailors were not necessarily expected to beat the Oilers this year in the playoffs. Huntington Beach defeated Newport Harbor by identical 2-0 scores twice in the Sunset League. Sure, the Sailors beat the Oilers in the final of the OC Invitational, but that was on penalty strokes.
In the TOC, though, the Sailors stepped up. Evans prefers to keep it in those terms, talking about the team. She’s not one to hog the limelight.
“We pulled through,” said Evans, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week. “Our team always pulls through when it matters, and I was pretty proud of them for that. Winning it, the actual day? We just owned it. We all played as a team. I love those girls so much.”
Evans did not score a goal in the three-game tournament, yet her dominance in the midfield was so pronounced that referees and opposing coaches agreed that she was the most valuable player on the field.
Coach Amanda Boyer was not surprised.
She has coached Evans for all four years, the first two on junior varsity before Boyer replaced Devon Kelly as the varsity head coach last year.
This year on varsity Evans was one of three senior captains, along with Allie Pantoskey and Courtney McIntosh. Her leadership qualities have never been in question.
“She’s so driven and has such a high energy,” Boyer said. “She wants the ball. You’re never worried when the ball is loose, because you know Sophie’s going to come up with it. She’s a wonderful offensive and defensive player. And she’s an amazing athlete, but also an all-around outstanding person.”
Coach and player have a bond that goes beyond field hockey. It’s a special group of seniors, the quartet of Evans, Pantoskey, McIntosh and Emily Mitchell. They’re the four players who made Boyer’s JV team four years ago as freshmen.
Evans talked about remembering when Boyer got married. Now her coach has a baby on the way.
“Field hockey has made my whole high school experience, and she’s been the one leading that every year,” Evans said. “More than a coach, she’s been a family figure, motherly. She’s just such an amazing person that I look up to.
“Every year we have a team in August, and it’s like, ‘All right, this is going to be an interesting season.’ She just turns the team from nothing into a winning team every year, and it’s amazing. Her coaching is indescribable.”
Boyer is part of a strong support system for Evans, who has a 4.0 weighted grade-point average at Newport Harbor. That also includes her father, Bart, and mother, Jenifer, who never miss Sophie’s matches. She said her older brothers Buck and Chase, both of whom played sports at Harbor as well, have helped fuel much of her competitive drive.
Evans and McIntosh, who grew up playing soccer together, worked well together in the midfield for the Sailors. Evans’ goal-scoring drive showed up at good times for the Sailors.
She scored a goal in last year’s TOC final, a 2-0 victory over the Oilers. Another time Evans’ drive came out was at a Sunset League match at Fountain Valley on Oct. 13.
Battling foot tendinitis, she was supposed to sit it out for the favored “Chix With Stix.” But after the host Barons went up a goal early, she decided not to take “no” for an answer.
“My foot was being iced and I took my ice off,” Evans said. “I was just like, ‘No way, Amanda. Let me in.’ I didn’t think she was going to let me go in, but she did.”
Boyer put Evans at forward instead of her usual midfield spot, wanting her to score a goal. After Pantoskey scored to bring the game into seven-on-seven sudden death, Evans scored two minutes into overtime to give the Sailors a dramatic victory.
“She went in and changed the momentum and all-around drive of the team,” Boyer said. “She’s just a fabulous kid. I always joke around with my husband [Jason] that I hope our child ends up like Sophie.”
Again, Evans’ focus goes back to the team.
“I felt so helpless on the sidelines, not being able to help them out,” she said. “Obviously, my team, it’s all about them. I just wanted to go in and help out, and we were lucky enough to put it in. But it was all them; it’s not like I won it and stole the show. It was amazing. Definitely one of those crazy moments.”
Evans will miss those moments with the Sailors. She said she may continue playing field hockey in college, but she’s keeping her options open. Academics are also important.
Whatever her decision, she walks off the field at Newport Harbor as a champion. The word she used to describe winning the TOC again was “surreal.”
“I love transferring that aggression and competitive spirit out on the field,” Evans said. “You’re drilling through the balls and scoring goals, then you just have your teammates running up and hugging you and you did it for them too. There’s nothing better than the feeling of winning at the end, and you know you played your best.”
Check and check. Two more things for which Evans can give thanks.
Just save her some stuffing for when she gets back from Arizona.
Sophie Evans
Born: Sept. 12, 1993
Hometown: Costa Mesa
Height: 5-foot-6
Sport: Field hockey
Coach: Amanda Boyer
Favorite food: Thanksgiving dinner
Favorite movie: “The Goonies”
Favorite athletic moment: Winning the Tournament of Champions this year.
Week in review: Evans, a senior midfielder, helped Newport Harbor win the Los Angeles Field Hockey Assn. Tournament of Champions for the fourth straight year over rival Huntington Beach. She was voted the tournament MVP.
Some notes on Post-Season Field Hockey:
– Pre-LAX has been postponed until a coach is hired, all pre-LAX players will report to post-season field hockey until further notice.
– If a player is planning on participating in Track in the Spring, Coach Tweit requires that they participate in pre-track. Please contact Amanda if you need to make a change from post-season field hockey to pre-season track.
– Post-Season Field Hockey will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on campus at Newport Harbor (a more specific place, TBA). The first practice will be on the Monday following the banquet: November 21. Please bring the $30 contribution, running shoes, shin guards, mouth guard, goggles, field hockey stick, and water.
– Questions? Contact Coach Amanda Boyer.
The Newport Harbor Field Hockey Banquet is coming quickly! Please make sure to send in your RSVP and check to Nancy Rohan right away so that we can plan accordingly.
Also, just a reminder that the Frosh/Soph team is responsible for bringing dessert and the JV team is responsible for bringing drinks.
Newport Harbor Field Hockey Merchandise and Stickers will be available at the banquet. NHFH Gear is a great holiday gift!
*There will be a limited number of TOC Championship Shirts in a variety of sizes (men & women) for sale for Varsity Parents.
We look forward to seeing you at the Banquet next Thursday, November 17!
Here is the schedule for Monday, November 7 at Harper:
– VARSITY
3:00 p.m. Banquet Video Shoot
4:00 p.m. Uniform Turn-In
*Bring CDs with photos!
– JV
3:00 p.m. Uniform Turn-In
*Bring CDs with photos!
– F/S
3:30 p.m. Uniform Turn-In
*Bring CDs with photos!
Newps Dynasty
Newport Harbor captures fourth straight TOC title after playing strong defense to beat rival Huntington Beach.
Daily Pilot | Bruce Bourquin
HUNTINGTON BEACH — In the each of the past three seasons prior to Thursday’s Los Angeles Field Hockey Assn. Tournament of Champions final at Edison High, the Newport Harbor field hockey team knew nothing but winning championships.
In the Sailors’ fourth season, they still do.
Newport Harbor dealt Huntington Beach its first loss of the season, scoring two first-half goals and playing stout defense in a 2-0 win.
Newport Harbor completed the four-peat and has won five championships in team history, beginning with the 2003 team that included Amanda Boyer, who completed her second season as the Sailors’ head coach with a 20-4-2 record.
Huntington Beach finished with a spectacular season in winning the Sunset League and owning a 23-1-1 record. The Sailors have beaten the Oilers in the past four TOC title games.
“This team, when they play together and they play with their hearts, that’s when they play their best,” said Boyer, who added it took a team effort to win the title. “We told them that when you play Newport ball, that’s when you’ll end up winning.”
With 18:54 left in the first half, Newport Harbor senior forward Allie Pantoskey found center Courtney McIntosh on a short corner. McIntosh dribbled to her right, then she fired a hard shot to her left from 10 meters out and past Oilers goalie Kayla Wigney.
McIntosh, who scored two goals in the tournament, was named to the all-tournament team, along with Jill Messersmith, who had one goal, and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player Sophie Evans.
“I was at the top of the circle,” McIntosh said. “I touched it between their sticks, faked it and shot it toward their left-hand side. It was nice to win it all four years.”
Pantoskey had the magic touch again with 4:43 left in the first half, after she assisted on a goal scored by Taury Hlinka, who put away a bouncing ball right in front of the goal.
“I knew where they were open,” Pantoskey said. “I just found them. It’s amazing to win it in our senior year. I’m so happy we won it, I knew we would.”
Huntington Beach head coach Cathy Van Doornum saw her team unable to cash in on six short corner opportunities and shots from close range by Hannah Rodriguez, Kayla Wigney and others.
“We had a slow first half,” Van Doornum said. “We looked tired, we didn’t play our game. We tried to have a shorter passing game, they had a longer, harder-hitting passing game.”
Boyer saw that her defense was able to hold off late Oiler charges, with Sailor goalie Andie Ward picking up the shutout.
“They were like a wall,” said Boyer, a goalie in her playing days at Newport.
The wall helped bring the Sailors their fourth consecutive TOC title.
Clean uniforms, borrowed field hockey sticks, and borrowed goggles are to be turned in by players at the following times:
FROSH-SOPH
Friday, November 4 at 3:30 p.m.
JV
Friday, November 4 at 3:00 p.m.
VARSITY
Monday, November 7 at 4:00 p.m.