Oilers and Sailors share crown

The outcome of the highly competitive Orange County Field Hockey Assn. Invitational Tournament at Marina High left two teams as co-champions of the event Saturday.

Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor No. 1 both suffered just one loss in the double-elimination tournament — beating each other — to share the title. The Oilers defeated Newport Harbor No. 2, 3-0, Glendora (1-0) and Newport Harbor No. 1 (1-0, overtime strokes). Their only loss was the Newport Harbor No. 1, 1-0, also in overtime strokes. Newport Harbor No. 1 defeated Bonita, host Marina, Glendora and Huntington Beach.

In a tournament-opening match that was delayed for 30 minutes because of lightning, Corinne Clegg, Ashley Pooler and Lindsey Walter scored goals for Huntington in its 3-0 win over Newport Harbor. Walter and Kayla Winsted picked up assists. Clegg also scored the winning goal in the final 20 seconds to lift the Oilers to a 1-0 win over Glendora.

Huntington then topped Newport Harbor No. 1, 1-0, in overtime strokes. Jessica Van Ragsdale, named co-MVP of the tournament, shot third for the Oilers in a five-stroke overtime and scored the winner on a hard shot to the left. Neither team was able to score in regulation, thanks to the play of Newport goalie Sydney King, who went on to be named the tournament’s most valuable goalie, and Huntington goalie Brittany Cristini and defenders Pooler, Marina Elmore, Julianne Lucas and Gina Taliari.

In a match played Sept. 30, Huntington got off 18 shots on goal against Fountain Valley and came away with a 2-0 victory over the Barons.

Fountain Valley goalie Alex Capuano held her own against the Oilers. Huntington forward Kayla Wigney, a junior, scored early in the first period off an assist on a big drive by outside midfielder Corinne Clegg. With just three minutes remaining in the first period, outside midfielder Abby Masters scored unassisted on a hard, long shot from the left side of the circle.

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Boys’ Water Polo

Edison High picked up three big wins against Northwood, San Clemente and JSerra to head into the start of Wednesday’s Sunset League play on a high note.

The Chargers (6-8) prepped for the start of league play — which began with a big match against Los Alamitos — by defeating Northwood (9-8) in overtime and San Clemente (6-4) at the South Coast Tournament, and edged JSerra, 11-10, at the Villa Park Tournament.

“Our recent wins over Northwood, San Clemente and JSerra, a first for our program in the nine years I have been coach here, gave the boys a shot of confidence,� Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. These are all excellent programs with great coaches, so the fact that we were able to beat all three in a week really brought our boys together and now gives them the confidence as we head into league.

“We know that Newport, Los Alamitos and Huntington Beach are all top teams in our league, so we just need to continue to learn form our mistakes and play hard to solidify that fourth spot in league, hoping for a spot in CIF Division 1 this season. It has been our goal from the onset of the season and is stressed daily with the team. In addition, we have three freshmen on our team that are all major contributors and gives us one of the strongest bench we have had in many years.�

In the win against Northwood, Brent Bazzell led Edison with four goals and Wil Menke scored twice. Single goals were posted by Greg Carter, Tony Morelli and Alec Niederland, and John Mroch had 10 saves. In the win against San Clemente, Bazzell again led the way with three goals, Carter, Menke and Rhodes scored once and Mroch had 16 saves. Bazzell had four goals, Carter three, Troy Oates and Kyle Spreeman both had two and Mroch 11 saves in the win against JSerra.

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Girls’ Volleyball

Edison, Huntington Beach and Marina opened Sunset League play Tuesday. The Chargers went on the road to face rival Fountain Valley and swept the Barons, 25-8, 25-6, 25-15, led by Delaney McCraney’s 10 kills.

The Oilers (9-9) were swept by host Los Alamitos, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18, and the Vikings (7-6) were swept on the road by Newport Harbor, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15.

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Cross-Country

The Fountain Valley cross-country program hosts the 29th annual Central Park Invitational Saturday at Huntington Beach Central Park. The event is expected to draw more than 4,000 students from 100 schools from California, Arizona and Nevada.

The three-mile course covers grass, dirt, asphalt, hills and loops throughout Central Park and its scenic lake. Races begin with Division I at 8:00 a.m. and continue through an 11 a.m. awards ceremony. The Division II race begins at 11:25 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m. with its awards ceremony.

Individual medals will be awarded to the top 35 runners in each race. Team trophies will be awarded to the first- through fifth-place teams in the varsity races, and first- through third-place in the other races. Trophies also will be presented to the fastest female and male runners of the day.

Food, drinks, and commemorative Central Park Invitational T-shirts will be on sale. The event is being put on by Marco Garcia, meet manager for the invitational and the Fountain Valley cross-country and track booster clubs. For more information, contact Garcia at (714) 403-8049, publicity volunteer Diane Bonthius at (714) 317-4844, or visit the Fountain Valley cross-country and track website at https://www.fvhsxc.com.