Costa Mesa Beats Esperanza to Reach Water Polo Final

Costa Mesa, a lower-division water polo power for years, took a step up by beating Esperanza, 9-6, in a Southern Section Division II semifinal Friday at Newport Harbor High.

The Mustangs won Division III titles in 1986, ’87 and ’93 and were runners-up in 1991 and ’94 but lost in the quarterfinals in their first Division II playoffs last season.

From the beginning of the season, Costa Mesa has been top-ranked in the division, and Friday lived up to that status against fourth-seeded Esperanza, which has won two of the last three Division II titles.

But the Aztecs (14-15) didn’t go down easy. After Costa Mesa (23-5) took a 6-2 lead with 5 minutes 37 seconds left in the third quarter, Esperanza made a hard charge, scoring three consecutive goals to end the quarter.

When Matt Means scored a man-up goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the score was 6-6.

“I called the timeout and I looked at the kids and they weren’t panicking,” Costa Mesa Coach Brian Kreutzkamp said. “We just said let’s go back to what got us here--defense. We didn’t let them score another goal.”

Ryan Dandy scored on the Mustangs’ next possession and Sean Hylton’s counter-attack goal gave them a 8-6 lead with 5:49 left.