Mustangs dominate

COSTA MESA — The scoreboard at the end of the game read that Costa Mesa High defeated Estancia, 19-7, on Wednesday at the Mustangs’ pool.

Scoreboards don’t measure respect, though. So after the clean, hard-fought Orange Coast League game between the cross-town rivals, coaches and players showed good sportsmanship and put their respect for the opponent into verbal form.

“We played a good game, and they played a good game too,” said Costa Mesa senior Skyler Twohig, who had four goals and three steals. “It’s always a lot of fun playing those guys. There’s some good people in the pool on both sides. Estancia’s a lot better this year.”

Twohig was only part of a balanced attack that saw Mesa (7-6, 1-2 in league) get five goals from Sam Edman and three each from twin brothers Cody and Dustin Serrano, as well as Gabe Sanchez.

Garrett Frazier led Costa Mesa with four steals, and goalie Jackson O’Connor made several alert saves, including in a one-on-one situation late in the first half.

Three of Frazier’s steals were in the first quarter, when the Mustangs sprinted to an early 5-0 lead. But then, the Eagles (3-9, 0-3) showed they wouldn’t be pushovers, as seniors Jeff Crosson and Josh Young scored consecutive backhanded goals to pull Estancia within 5-2.

“Estancia’s gotten a lot better,” Costa Mesa Coach Justin Taylor said. “A couple of their kids put some impressive one-on-one moves on our better defenders...Some of their guys out there definitely earned the respect of our kids. It was fun to watch.”

The Mustangs then went on a 6-1 run, for an 11-3 halftime lead.

That lead was trimmed to 12-6 early in the fourth quarter when Estancia’s Charlie Umansky scored on a long shot from the left. Costa Mesa, however, would then put the game out of reach.

“Our team has a lot of talent,” said Young, who had two goals and a steal. “The chemistry wasn’t there today. We weren’t making the right passes and we weren’t focusing.”

The Eagles, who had just one substitute, were also forced to play the final two-plus minutes of the game down a man. Two players were ejected after earning their third exclusion in the fourth quarter.

James Fowler, in his first varsity game, was another contributor for the Mustangs. The standout swimmer, who is the two-time defending league swimming champion in the 50-yard freestyle, won two sprints and also scored a penalty shot.

He was just a part of the team win for the Mustangs.

“It’s a good confidence-builder for some of these guys who don’t get that much playing time, like James,” Edman said. “It gets them, you know, ready to play up with us.”

Both Costa Mesa and Estancia are competing in the Eagles’ tournament this weekend. Taylor said Costa Mesa, should it win its first three games, could face Sage Hill in the championship game on Saturday afternoon.

He said his team would like the chance to face the Lightning prior to Wednesday, when the teams meet in their second and final league game at Costa Mesa. Sage Hill beat Costa Mesa in the teams’ first league meeting, 10-8, on Sept. 26, giving the Lightning the inside track on a CIF Southern Section Division II playoff spot.

“We’re not totally fixated on Sage Hill, but obviously we need to beat them to get into the playoffs,” Taylor said. “We think about their strong points, and one of their strong points is having a really good goalie [Danny Harold]. So we’ve been stressing our outside shooting, and we seemed to do a good job of it today.”

Estancia Coach John Carpenter agreed.

“Mesa’s outside shooting today was phenomenal,” Carpenter said. “We couldn’t stop that. They played aggressively and we couldn’t counter that. But the kids don’t give up.”

Carpenter added that although his Eagles are now 3-9, taking out the three league losses would put Estancia at 3-6. He said he hopes to improve that nonleague mark to .500 or better by the end of the season.

Orange Coast League

Costa Mesa 19, Estancia 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Est – Crosson 3, Young 2, Tasbihchi 1, Umansky 1. Saves – Lux 8.

CM – Edman 5, Twohig 4, C. Serrano 3, Sanchez 3, D. Serrano 3, Fowler 1. Saves – O’Connor 5.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].