Brooke Smith
Sports Writer
Mira Costa Girls Water Polo splashed their way to another successful game beating Peninsula High School.
The Mustang girls defeated Peninsula High School, 10-4 on Tuesday, January 23 during an away game. The Lyter sisters were the top performers of the game. Camille Lyter overall scored four goals while Leigh Lyter scored a total of two goals.
“I thought we started the game off strong by attacking and pushing our offense aggressively,” Celeste Almendarez said. “We started to slow down a bit during the second and third quarters, letting them score a couple goals and take a spot on the scoreboard.”
The first quarter started out with Leigh stealing the ball and passing it to Camille while she managed to score a goal. Quickly after Elizabeth Terry scored two consecutive goals. Camille scored one more goal while Peninsula responded with another. Ending the quarter was Dylan Read making a goal leaving the score, 5-1.
“I feel like our team came out strong and ready to play hard. We played them before so we could foresee what we had to do and what players we needed to shut down,” Terry said. “It was a great team effort and we got good opportunities and were able to use them to our advantage.”
During, the second quarter Camille started it off with two consecutive goals. Leigh, Maiken, Pardon, and Terry shot a goal but got blocked by Peninsula’s goalie. Costa managed to have good defense and keep the lead with a score, 7-1.
“We worked hard to get steals and worked on our breakaways,” Camille said. “ We also worked on our counter attacks and that really helped us secure the win.”
In the third quarter the Mustangs had good offense, although Peninsula scored another goal leaving the score, 2-7. Leigh scored two goals for the team while their opponent responded with a couple shots only making one.
“We were able to gain such an advantage in the third quarter because we were able to access the defense, notice their change in strategy and adapt to the situation,” Camille said. “Communication and awareness were some of the key assets during this game.”
In the fourth quarter Costa let down their defense a bit but still managed to get one goal in by Almendarez. Although, we let two more goals in from Peninsula, we did win the game by a significant amount.
“Thankfully we were able to control Peninsula’s offense well and shut down their half court offense by running a hard zone defense,” Almendarez said. “Overall it was a great win and I’m glad we were able to keep our undefeated record.”
Currently the Mustangs girls water polo team has won 12 and lost 6, but gone 4-0 for Bay League. The girls will play their next game at home against Palos Verdes High School on Thursday, January 23.
“I think we will play our best at the next game, but whether we win or lose comes down to how well we work together as a team in the pool,” Telyn Kouwenhoven said.
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