March 19, 2024

Mustangs offense kept at bay in 8-6 loss to Dana Hills Dolphins

(Right) Senior attacker Brett Colvin defends an opposing player. The Mira Costa Water Polo team fell to Dana Hills High School, 8-6, at home on Saturday.

Brooke Smith

Staff Writer

The Mustangs were unable to hold on against Dana Hills following a collapse in the second half in spite of a first half lead.

Boys water polo lost 8-6 at home Oct. 14 despite a scintillating four goal performance from junior Hudson Carter.

“I feel like we played well in the first half of the game, but in the second half we let the score difference get to our heads and started relaxing, resulting in our loss,” Carter said.

Carter began the first quarter with three consecutive goals and junior Troy Gleason added a fourth. Senior goalie Paul Matt kept the Dolphins in check, as the Mustangs ended the quarter up 4-2.

“We started out strong but eventually got fatigued and fell apart on offense and let their two best players score toward the end of the half,” Matt said.

In the second quarter  both teams buckled down defensively, only allowing a goal each. Gleason tallied his second goal of the game, but the Dolphins scored making it 5-3 at half.

“We let the lead get to our heads and we could’ve pushed a lot harder to keep working,” Gleason said.

In the third quarter, Carter scored his fourth goal, but the Mustangs broke down defensively allowing Dana Hills to score two more goals. The third quarter ended with Costa barely ahead 6-5.

“In the third quarter we slowed down, getting tired and let them control the game,” Carter said. “This third quarter sadly led to our loss of the whole game.”

The fourth quarter was all Dolphins as they splashed their way to victory with three goals. The Mustangs were unable to find shooting opportunities, leading to an 8-6 defeat.

“We missed our shots on a couple key opportunities and made a couple defensive mistakes which cost us the whole game,” junior goalie Garret Allen said.

The Mustangs, now 14-6 overall and 6-0 in Bay League, will play in the Steven Pal Tournament at Esperanza High School at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon.

“At the next game we will come out strong and pull off a win by focusing more on our defense and picking up the pace,” Carter said.

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