Mustangs hoping to stay on rise

Steve Virgen

The rise of the Costa Mesa High girls water polo program began rather

simple.

A lot of the credit goes to Coach Tim Postiff, who enters his

second season with the Mustangs. But, it was the players from the

school’s varsity team that made the initial move that paved the way

for Mesa’s pivotal season last year.

The players went into Postiff’s classroom last year and asked him

to coach the team. The coach had planned to earn his master’s degree

at Azusa Pacific University and solely concentrate on teaching at

Costa Mesa. But he didn’t want to let down the players.

“They asked me to coach and it was worth it,” Postiff said. “They

are great kids. It was a real good decision.”

The players paid back their coach by earning a third of the Golden

West League title last season, their first year in the league. This

season might be a rebuilding year because of the youth on the team,

Postiff said, but three returnees might have something to say about

that.

Sarah Bowman, Jessica Steenhard and Allyson Harris earned

all-league honors last year and will be an important part of the team

this season. The same goes for senior goalie Quyen Nguyen.

Bowman will be depended on to score. The junior two-meter player

received first-team All-Golden West League honors as well as

second-team All-CIF Southern Section Division IV laurels.

“She’s extremely talented and a big girl for a junior,” Postiff

said. “She’s coming along well so far. We expect big things from

her.”

Harris, a junior, collected third-team All-CIF Division IV honors

and second-team all-league honors, while Steenhard was a first-team

all-league performer.

Steenhard and Nguyen are the team’s only seniors.

“Inexperience will be our biggest challenge to overcome,” Postiff

said. “We’re heavy with sophomores and juniors.”

The sophomores, Annie Le, Linnsee Pederson, and Chandra Malapira,

and the juniors Christine Twohig, Patricia Schuppert, Sandra Stokes,

Sabina Wee and Marlet Afuang have been quick to follow Postiff’s lead

and his stressing of teamwork.

“We are a team, which works well for us,” Postiff said. “There are

no individuals. They seem to be working well as a team. It seems all

the girls we had from last year and the new girls from this year seem

to be on the same page and they are there for the right reason.”

Postiff said the Golden West League title will be up for grabs as

Santa Ana, Westminster, Saddleback and Orange will most likely be

among the contenders, along with the Mustangs. Westminster and

Saddleback shared the title with Mesa last year.

Costa Mesa seems to have an advantage in speed, considering the

Mustangs won the Golden West League title in swimming last spring.