Westlake boys water polo outlasts Mira Costa in 4OT to win CIF-SS Division 1 title

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Westlake boys water polo celebrate after defeating Mira Costa 11-10 in double overtime in a CIF-SS boys water polo Division 1 final at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (Photo by Libby Cline-Birmingham, Contributing Photographer)

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WALNUT — Westlake twice stood seconds from its first CIF Southern Section boys water polo championship and couldn’t hold on, but there was no coming back from its third.

Jack Robison’s blistering shot from distance 32 seconds into the fourth, three-minute overtime period lifted the top-seeded Warriors (26-6) to an 11-10 triumph over third-seeded Mira Costa in an emotionally draining Division 1 title game Saturday afternoon at Mt. San Antonio College’s Aquatics Center.

It was a stunning finish to a roller-coaster encounter, one in which Mira Costa (22-12) rallied from a 5-1 second-quarter deficit, finally catching up on Deacon Lesser’s goal with 11 seconds to play in regulation, and had to do so again — on Lucas Pierce’s strike 6 seconds before the finish of the second extra session — to forge sudden death.

“I’m usually not on (the right) side of the pool — it’s weird for a lefty to be there — but I felt like I was wide open,” Robison said once the celebration died down. “Logan Baumann gave me the ball, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah,’ and I buried it. I knew it was going in the second I shot it, and it was almost unreal that it went in. It was just … wow. I didn’t believe it.”

It was the Warriors’ second successive sudden-death victory, and, as in Tuesday’s semifinal against Yucaipa, they had to rally from behind in overtime.

“Our whole, entire playoff run has been ups and downs, and they’ve come back in every single game in the playoffs,” assistant coach Xavier Volgenau said. “I told the boys: If this goes into overtime, we’re going to win this game.”

Westlake scored three goals on 6-on-5 advantages and converted two penalties to overcome 29 turnovers, two of them feeding the Mustangs’ three-goal comeback in the fourth quarter for a 7-7 tie. Mira Costa outshot the Warriors, 38-22, but hit the crossbar or post 10 times and converted just one of five extra-man situations. Goalkeeper Alexey Malkov made 14 saves.

“We couldn’t put the ball in the goal. Simple as that,” Mira Costa coach Jon Reichardt said. “Everything else was fine. Our defense was great, everything else was good, we just didn’t put the ball in the net.”

The Mustangs took a quick 9-7 lead in overtime, on goals by Kai Nelson and Pierce, but Zachary Miller halved the deficit and Christian Couch’s fourth goal of the game, on a penalty with 1.7 seconds left in the first overtime period, pulled Westlake even. Noah Loo fired the Warriors ahead halfway through the next session, leading to Pierce’s equalizer ahead of sudden death after Guenther Flynn tied up Loo on the right flank, forcing an offensive foul.

Couch, who scored Westlake’s sudden-death winner against Yucaipa, scored four goals and assisted another, and Robison’s winner was his third goal of the afternoon. Pierce and Mikey Ingram scored three apiece for the Mustangs, and Flynn netted two and assisted three.

“We thought we had it,” Ingram said. “Just seeing that last bucket go in was heartbreaking. We were so close but so far. It didn’t happen.”

Westlake was overjoyed.

“Seriously, like the feeling’s unreal. It’s just amazing,” Couch said. “Me and these boys have been together for five or something years, we’ve stuck together through everything. Going into high school, we were all going to go to different schools, but we were like, ‘We’re going to stick together and we’re going to win this ring together.’

“It’s been a little dream of ours, and now it’s finally come to fruition, and it feels amazing.”

Westlake boys water polo outlasts Mira Costa in 4OT to win CIF-SS Division 1 title

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