Noah Jamani
Staff Writer
Tough competition and tremendous expectations: Mira Costa girls water polo couldn’t stay afloat in its first California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) match.
Costa’s girls water polo team fell to the Troy Warriors 10-9 in overtime on Thursday as a result of a poor defense. According to junior attacker Skylar Jefferson, Costa turned the ball over plenty of times.
“We played very poorly and turned the ball over too much,” Jefferson said. “However, as the game went on, our offense started to click and we found our rhythm, but unfortunately, it was too late.”
According to junior attacker Sami Jordan, The Mustangs did not have a strong start to the game, giving up three goals in the beginning. Senior attacker Aminadi Anorve then responded with a goal off a turnover. In the dying seconds of the quarter, Skylar Jefferson scored on a long shot.
“We had a poor start,” Jordan said. “However as the quarter went on, we made crisp passes and played great offense.”
Pictures Mira Costa versus Troy CIF
In the second quarter, the Warriors scored two goals off of Costa turnovers. Senior attacker Leigh Lyter scored, but Costa’s momentum would not last as the Warriors scored right after on another Mustang turnover. The Warriors dominated the rest of the second quarter, but couldn’t add on to their 6-3 lead.
“In the beginning of the quarter we won battles and had the ball,” Jefferson said. “But after their goal we lost momentum and are lucky they didn’t score any more goals.”
At the start of the third quarter, Lyter scored in close to the goal, cutting Troy’s lead to two. Costa continued to sustain pressure and that eventually led to another goal from Jefferson. As the third quarter winded down, Troy scored two quick goals to take an 8-5 lead.
“Both teams had chances in the third quarter,” Jordan said. “We scored on our chances, and they scored on theirs.”
Upcoming schedule and previous scores
The final quarter was dominated by Costa with senior attacker Chloe Le scoring in the opening seconds. The Warriors would score a goal right after off of another Costa turnover. Shortly after, Leigh Lyter and Skylar jefferson scored two back to back to goals bringing Costa right back in the game. In the final seconds of the game, Anorve scored off a Warrior turnover tying the game at 9. However, in overtime, the Warriors scored early and won, ending Costa’s season.
“We had a strong finish to the game,” Jefferson said. “Our offense was great as well as our defense.”
The Mustangs finished their season 12-13 overall and 3-4 in Bay League.
“I thought we started off this season rough,” Jefferson said. “However, as the season went on we learned how to work together and become a much better team.”
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