Brooke Smith

Staff Writer

The Mira Costa girls water polo team won, 9-8 against Santiago High School on Wednesday, Feb. 13 in the semi-final California Interscholastic Federation. The top performers were junior, goalie, Erin O’Donnell and junior, Celeste Almendariz.

O’Donnell blocked a total of three goals in the first period, four goals in the second and one in the third quarter. Almendariz scored one goal in the first, second and fourth period of the game leading them to victory.

“We came into the game knowing the other team was going to come out strong and put in a strong fight,” Almendariz said. “It took us time however to figure out how we could use their defense to our advantage.”

In the first period the girls fell short by one goal with the score being, 4-3. Camille Lyter, Elizabeth Terry, and Almendariz each scored one goal. All of Santiago’s goals were off of the Mustangs exclusions. The girls had to figure their six on five plays, according to Almendariz.

“The first period of the game was the time we were testing our different strategies against Santiago, like finding which players to look out for and figuring out how to work our offense,” Terry said.

The Mustangs continue to fall behind in the game by two goals with a score of, 6-4. The girls managed to get one goal into the net with the help of Almendariz again. The Mustangs struggled because their shots continued to not hit the net, but they began to pull through as the game went on.

“There was so much pressure on each of us, I think the whole atmosphere added to the fluster of the team,” said Almendariz. “But at half our coaches told us to calm down and take the game slow which helped us a lot.”

The Mustangs finally got a lead on Santiago in the third quarter leaving the score tied, 6-6. Camille Lyter managed to find the back of the goal along with her teammate Emma May. Santiago took one shot to the Mustangs goal, but O’Donnell blocked it.

“We fought hard for steals and ran the counter attack. We were a much faster team so this worked well for us and pretty soon we were tied,” Camille Lyter said.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the girls brought it home with a win scoring a total of three points. Almendariz, May and Leigh Lyter each scored one goal. Although, Santiago did manage to score two goals on the Mustangs goalie.

“We stepped up our game by playing hard defense and countering the other team,” Leigh Lyter said. “We took advantage of other team’s lack of conditioning and were able to execute successfully.”

The Mustangs are scheduled to play against Oak’s Christian High School at The Woollett Aquatics Center on Saturday, Feb. 16. They currently hold a five game winning streak with a record, 20-9 and Bay League, 6-0.

“I’m really excited for our game on Saturday because we have worked for this moment all season and we are more than ready to play our game,” said Leigh Lyter. “We need to make all of our shots on Saturday and make sure we take advantage of all of Oak Christian’s mistakes.”