Boys water polo: Estancia ends Mesa’s streak

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Finally.

Eleven years of losing to Costa Mesa High’s boys water polo team is

over.

The Estancia Eagles ended Mesa’s dominance with an 11-8 Pacific Coast

League victory Wednesday at Estancia.

“That was as good as a CIF win,” said Estancia senior Phil Westfall,

who scored four goals. He is in his fourth year on the varsity team. “It

feels really good because every year they beat us. We always got beat by

a lot through the years.”

The win didn’t come easy for the Eagles.

Estancia attacked early and scored two goals in the first quarter.

But, the Mustangs were able to score with 1:07 remaining in the quarter

as Jason Marshall finished off a breakaway.

Eagles’ Coach John Carpenter said Mesa increased its play throughout

the match because of the rivalry and the winning streak.

“The rivalry always makes it intense,” he said. “They played

incredibly tough. But this was our shot at them (for a win) and we took

advantage of it.”

Estancia scored two more goals in the second quarter. First, Westfall

threw in his second goal when he got the ball just past Mesa goalie Brian

Tipton, who finished with 10 saves.

A minute later, Jesse Hellmich scored for the Eagles. He tapped the

ball in after a shot deflection for a 4-1 advantage.

The Mustangs, however, were able to sneak in another goal before the

end of the quarter when Marshall got his second goal of the day.

Mesa had a knack for scoring with little time left on the clock.

With four seconds remaining on the shot clock, Jeff Collett struck for

a goal from long distance in the third quarter to make the score 7-5.

Later in the quarter, Mike Whitman, who finished with three goals, scored

on a foul shot with 0:14 remaining and created an 8-6 advantage going

into the fourth quarter.

“It was not my intent to run out the clock. They played great

defense,” Mesa Coach Chris Avitia said. Avitia, although in his first

year as coach, is no stranger to the Estancia-Mesa rivalry. He was a

four-year Costa Mesa varsity letterwinner, 1990-94.

“Estancia has always been the team we had to beat because of the

rivalry,” he said. “It’s kind of disappointing. We’re a young team and

they’re still learning. They’re getting better every game.”

Estancia pulled away in the final quarter and relied on goalie Dan

Wotta to hold off Mesa. Wotta, who finished with six saves, crowded the

cage and caused Whitman to attempt a lob-shot with 4:18 remaining.

Whitman went one-on-one with Wotta and threw the ball over the cage.

The Eagles immediately called a timeout after the play.

“Dan Wotta came up big on that goal,” Carpenter said, who also

mentioned the team used one substitute throughout the match. “We were

still going hard at the end. We started to execute some of the things

that we practice.”

Estancia (5-3, 1-0 in the PCL) earned its victory with execution.

“We were ready to play today,” Westfall said. “We came in with pretty

high hopes. We played as a team. Everybody contributed to what we’ve been

practicing.”

Westfall also said he felt a sense of relief when the final whistle

blew and he realized Estancia defeated Mesa for the first time in his

four-year career and for the first time since 1989.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 11, Costa Mesa 8 Costa Mesa 2 2 4 3 - 11

Estancia 1 1 4 2 - 8

Mesa: Whitman 3, Thomas 2, Marshall 2, Collett, 1. Saves - Sheridan

10.

Estancia: Westfall 4, Hellmich 4, Thorpe 3.

Saves - Wotta 6.