Eagles make themselves at home to top Sage Hill

Estancia, playing its ‘home’ games at Costa Mesa, earns 10-8 triumph over Lightning Friday.COSTA MESA -- The Estancia High girls’ water polo team continues to lead a nomadic existence, but the Eagles aren’t making it easy on visiting teams.

Melissa Buchmann and Katie Mahan scored four goals apiece as the Eagles won a nonleague match against Sage Hill, 10-8, on Friday at Costa Mesa High.

The win was a reversal of fortune from last season. Last December, the Lightning beat Estancia, 4-3, in a more defensive match. The momentum swung back and forth, with four ties in the game.

The victory was a piece of good news in a season full of transitions, mostly between pools. Estancia Coach Bob Bandaruk’s team has been practicing and playing at various pools in the area, due to construction and repairs.

“We’ve had to practice late at night,” Bandurak said. “One week, both our pool and [Costa Mesa’s] were down. We had to practice without water, just working on passing and positioning.”

On Friday, the Lightning took a 3-2 lead in the first quarter. Sage Hill’s Dylan Conroy and Estancia’s Buchmann each scored twice in the quarter.

The Eagles tied the score at 5-5 with 11 seconds left in the second period when Katie Mahan fired a shot from the middle of the pool as the shot clock was expiring.

In the third period, Carolina Barnes gave the Eagles a 6-5 lead before Sage scored both of its goals one minute apart. Cameron Cline scored with 5:08 remaining and Sara Wesley scored at 4:12 remaining after an assist from Karly Bennett.

Mahan scored her second goal of the match to tie the score, 7-7, on the Eagles ensuing possession.

On Estancia’s first possession of the fourth quarter, Mahan scored on a putback off a deflected shot. Buchmann took a shot from 10 meters out that was deflected off Sage Hill goalkeeper Jordan Smith-Newman. After Mahan’s goal, Chelsea Kaplan found Buchmann for the eventual game-winning goal with 4:16 remaining in the game.

Mahan -- who splits her time in and out of the goal -- was pleased with the result.

“The win felt good, especially after losing to them last year,” Mahan said.

“It felt like a good win, because they are a team on our talent level,” Buchmann said.

First-year Sage Hill Coach Aleah Amr praised the effort of Conroy. The freshman scored three goals and made four steals.

“As a freelance team, every game is like a league game. Tournaments and matches like this one, they all count for us,” Amr said.

Sage Hill (4-4) will not play again until after the holidays. The Lightning return to action in the Western Tournament, opening Jan. 5.

Estancia (4-4) looks to build momentum for Golden West League play with two more nonleague “home” games before the break. The Eagles play host to Pacifica on Monday and Los Amigos on Wednesday -- both at Costa Mesa High.

Nonleague

Estancia 10, Sage Hill 8

Score by Quarters