Mustangs dominate late, beat Sage Hill in season opener

The Sage Hill School boys’ water polo team played its first official game in the new on-campus aquatics complex on Wednesday afternoon.

The complex opened last spring, but boys’ water polo is a fall sport. The Lightning welcomed Costa Mesa for the nonleague game, and they were actually maybe a bit too welcoming.

Credit the young but still more experienced Mustangs, who turned a close game early into a rout late to win their season opener, 14-3.

Costa Mesa, led by junior Caedmon Fisher and his eight goals, scored the final 12 goals of the contest. Sage Hill had taken a 3-2 lead early in the second quarter, when Matteo Merage scored from about five meters. But that would be the last goal the Lightning would score in the game.

The Mustangs blanked the Lightning for the final 19:01 of the game.

“We definitely saw a lot of first-game hiccups in their play, but I think they played well,” Costa Mesa assistant coach Dustin Serrano said. “They came out in the third quarter and put [Sage Hill] away. It was good to see a shutout in the second half.”

Senior Tony Shin scored three goals and added two assists for Mesa, which also got one goal each from the other two varsity seniors, Jake Fleener and Augie Cunningham, as well as junior Teak Zachary.

The Mustangs had as many freshmen contributors as seniors. Freshmen Gavin Fisher and Noah Gniffke each had an assist and a steal, while Will Harrington recorded two steals and also earned a five-meter penalty shot on a counterattack.

First-year varsity starter in goal, Joe Palmblade, made eight saves for the Mustangs.

“If I’m going to be honest, and I think I speak for all of us, we were a little bit nervous,” Caedmon Fisher said. “This is a new team. We have a lot of young players.”

Zachary, who drew four ejections and had three steals, said he was encouraged with what he saw from Gavin Fisher, Harrington and Gniffke. Harrington is the younger brother of former Newport Harbor girls’ water polo standout goalie Cleo Harrington, who now plays for Harvard.

“We didn’t know if we could rely on them, and they just proved that they’re there for us,” Zachary said. “It’s really great to see … It’s definitely a new era for Mesa starting this year, for sure. It’s a new upcoming of club kids. I’m excited to see, not only this season but the next couple of seasons, what they can grow into. There’s a lot of potential here.”

The Mustangs started pushing the counterattack in the second half. Other goal scorers for Sage Hill included freshman Connor Cohen, who had a game-high five steals, and junior Adam Watson, who drew three exclusions. Senior goalie Miles Wilson had four saves and a steal for the Lightning (1-1), who opened their season last week with a 23-4 road win against Saddleback.

First-year Sage Hill Coach Pavle Filipovic knows that his team is in CIF Southern Section Division 5, which is two divisions lower than Costa Mesa in Division 3. Still, he believes that by the end of the season, the Lightning will be able to compete in a game like this.

“As soon as they opened up the counterattack, the game started to change,” Filipovic said. “I think for us, right now, obviously experience is the one thing we’re lacking. But the other thing is, we’re still early in the training cycle. We’re not adjusted to play 28 minutes in a 25-meter course here. I think that’s something that I expect the team to improve extensively as we move on this season.

“We played a very close, tight game for one half. And then they were able to take advantage of their strength, speed and their one-on-one experience too.”

Costa Mesa plays at Yorba Linda on Friday, while Sage Hill next plays at JSerra on Tuesday.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo