Sean McDonald
Staff Writer
The regular season may be over, but the push doesn’t end yet for Costa’s boys water polo team. They defeated Chino Hills High School on Thursday in their round of 16 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) game.
Mira Costa’s boys water polo won 15-8 in its home game and was able to jump out to a big lead early on and never let up after. Senior set guard Finn Pardon and senior attacker Jake Tolt lead the Mustangs to victory by each scoring over five goals.
“The whole team really came out to play,” Pardon said. “It was a solid team effort and the team kept the momentum going.”
The game opened with three quick goals from Pardon, followed by a goal from junior attacker Garrett Weatherly. Jake Tolt then got his name on the scoresheet with two goals, which ended the first quarter 6-0.
“We came out and put them under pressure early, which is exactly what we wanted to do,” Weatherly said.
The second quarter opened the same way the first quarter ended, with two fast goals from Tolt. Pardon then scored his fourth goal, followed by an impressive goal from range by junior attacker Lucas Brannan. Brannan scored once more preceding a Chino Hills goal and ended the half 11-1.
“I think we were scoring so much because we were constantly beating them on the counterattack, and out-swimming them,” junior attacker Mark Warneke said.
The second half began on a penalty for Chino Hills that was scored, then Tolt scored his fourth and fifth goals of the game. Chino Hills then put together a play on the counterattack and scored, ending the quarter 13-3.
“We played really well as a team the whole way through, which is why we were able to put up big numbers,” Tolt said.
Chino Hills came out with some fire in the last quarter, scoring four consecutive goals before Pardon responded with his fifth goal of the game. Chino then made their last goal of the game before another goal from Pardon ending the game 15-8.
Mira Costa’s overall record is 23-6 and they play away at San Marcos, 22-7, on Saturday in the CIF quarterfinal. They played them twice earlier in the year, losing one and winning the other. According to coach Jon Reichardt, it will be a very competitive match.
“San Marcos will be a good opponent,” Reichardt said. “Quarterfinal games are usually tough and this will be a good test.”
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