By Casey Sublette
Staff Writer
With the memory of a CIF playoff loss against Laguna Beach High School the previous year, Mira Costa boys water polo was looking for redemption.
On Sept. 20 at Laguna, the Mustangs lost with a final score of 18-8. The boys had been preparing for the match against Laguna for quite some time but could not pull off the win.
“It was a rough game,” coach Jon Reichardt said. “I thought we played well but could not overcome being behind early in the game. We were not able to get our offense going.”
The Mustangs, now with an overall record of 1-2, will participate today and tomorrow in the AFC Invitational Tournament in Coronado. Mira Costa will go head to head with many other high schools in the D-III region.
“The AFC Invitational that’s coming up should be a challenge,” senior Dylan Colbert said. “I feel that each of us is going to have to step up our game if we plan to do well in this tournament.”
Laguna’s high level of energy took the Mustangs by surprise when the first period opened and the Laguna Breakers were able to jump out to a large 8-1 lead. Costa was hardly able to hold the hyperactive Breakers back in the first quarter as a result.
“After the first quarter it was not much of a game,” Reichardt said. “We were not really able to redeem ourselves after being down by so much in the beginning of the match.”
During the second quarter, the Mustangs stepped up their defensive game. Mira Costa managed to hold the Breakers to only two more points in the period.
Despite this resiliency, however, Laguna Beach remained strong on defense and allowed only one Costa goal in the second quarter. When the buzzer sounded, the score was 10-2, a commanding Laguna Beach lead going into the half.
“I felt that we started off slow,” senior Joshua Huttinger said. “But we really stepped up our game during the second half. We have a lot to work on and that is what that game was all about.”
The Mustangs started to chip away by scoring three goals in each of the third and fourth quarters but could not never fully break the Laguna Beach defense.
“We were all a little bit disappointed that we didn’t keep the score closer,” senior Matt Thornton said.
In the end, the team could not catch the Breakers, and Mira Costa eventually lost the game by a final score of 18-8.
“We have a lot to learn from this game,” Thornton said. “Hopefully, when we meet them again in playoffs, we will come out stronger and get the revenge we have been waiting for.”
Despite the loss, some of the Mustangs contributed notable numbers. Thornton led the team with three goals while Huttinger and senior Dan Burdiak followed him with two goals.
“We are currently having two-a-days practices and we are putting in extra hours at the gym and working on our shooting outside of practice,” Colbert said.
The Mustangs’ spirits were not dampened by this loss, and many players are hoping to have another chance at Laguna Beach sometime in the future.
“We played well but we faced our toughest opponent on our schedule,” Burdiak said. “This game showed us what we have to work on for the rest of the season leading into our Bay League games and CIF playoffs.”
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