Ryan Ulrich
Staff writer
In the quarter finals of the California Interscholastic Federation Division Two boy’s water polo tournament Mira costa faced off against San Clemente High School on Saturday. The game was physical battle, but the Mustangs were able to come out with a strong win, defeating the Tritons 10-7.
Both teams played well in the first quarter, but Costa came out ahead, Senior driver Ed Jeon was able to score, giving Costa the lead. Later in the quarter San Clemente answered back with a goal, tying the game. In the last minute of the quarter Junior Finn Pardon recovered a shot off of the post and scored, giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead to end the quarter.
“Today I think as a team we played really well but I think we were all a little nervous at first.” Senior Nick Dale said. “I think we were really able to go out and play some good water polo for me on a personal level and for everyone as a whole which I think caused us to win.”
In the second quarter Senior Brandon Lavinsky scored a quick goal, increasing their lead to 3-1.However the Tritons were able to score twice, tying the game. At the end of the quarter Senior Captain Andrew Todd scored, giving Costa a 4-3 lead.
“ I think we really played a good game today.” Coach Jon Reichardt said, “ Although in the beginning we looked a little nervous I think after we started playing we were able to work through the nerves and play some real water polo.”
After the half the Mustangs went on the offense; and four goals were scored by Junior Jake Miller-Tolt, Lavinsky, Jeon and Todd. The Tritons tried to recover, scoring two goals and ending the quarter with an 8-5 Mustang lead.
“In the third quarter we started to gain momentum.” Lavinsky said, “We were able to tighten up our defense, get our shots in, and lose our nerves.”
In the final quarter of the game the Tritons attempted to comeback, scoring another goal. Costa was able to add on their lead and another two goals were scored by Miller-Tolt and Todd . At the end of the quarter the Mustang finished off the game playing strong and won 10-7.
“We won today because of our conditioning, our strong discipline, and our experience.” Reichardt said.
Many Mira Costa players were curious to see how San Clemente was going to play because the Mustangs had never faced the Tritons. Because San Clemente was a new team to the Mustangs the players really had to adjust the way they played in order to win the game.
“ I think we played really well today, we’ve never played this team before so nobody really knew what was coming.” Lavinsky said. “We really had to adapt to whatever they threw at us and I believe we did that perfectly.”
After their victory against the Tritons Mira Costa will move on to play in the semi-finals of the CIF Division 2 Tournament. Mira Costa will play Foothill High School on Wednesday, November 19, at the William Wollett Aquatic Center. The winner will play in the CIF Division 2 Finals.
“ I’m not really thinking about whether or not we can win CIF right now because I’m taking it one game at a time.” Reichardt said. “ In my eyes I think we are in good shape for our semifinals game and I think we could do good in that game.”
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