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Sports

Mustangs Avenge Two Tough Losses, Get Title Shot

Mira Costa boys lacrosse team take out the Sea Kings en route to U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section championship match up against Santa Ana Foothill.

They were up four goals at halftime, coming off a stellar second quarter. But comfortable, they were not. One year ago the Mira Costa High Mustangs had been in this exact same situation, in the U.S. Lacrosse Northern Division championship game, leading by four at halftime.

They ended up losing that match to Loyola, and this time around they were locked up with Bay League rival Palos Verdes, which had found ways to beat them twice during the league season; stinging defeats, the second one in overtime.

But the Mustangs on Tuesday beat back some bad memories from that loss a year ago when one step away from a title shot and from the two losses this season to the Sea Kings, taking out Palos Verdes 12-10 and advancing to their first Southern Section championship game.

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''It feels amazing,'' said Mustangs' goalie Tony Gibbs, who made 11 saves including a crucial stop inside one minute to play. ''We never did it before. Want it, want that ring. All of my football friends, because our football team won it, they all have them and they all brag to me, and I want one, too.''

Gibbs and the Mustangs will get a chance to win that championship on Friday against Santa Ana Foothill, which beat Corona del Mar to win the Southern Division title.

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That match will be played at Valencia High in Placentia at 8 p.m.

The Knights beat Mira Costa to open the season 17-7, but in beating league champion Palos Verdes the Mustangs learned a thing or two about avenging tough losses.

''We were in this exact same position last year against Loyola, up four goals at halftime, exact same score, 6-2, and we ended up losing that game in double overtime by a goal,'' Coach David Vinci said.

''Today, we had some moments where I'm sure every player out here started getting nervous, but they came up big and did the things they had to do," he added. "Some of our big players stepped up when they needed to and we were able to close it out. It was great.''

The Mustangs certainly did that, after the Sea Kings wiped out that four-goal deficit in the third quarter. They tied the score at 7 with 2:56 remaining on a goal by Brandon Lim, but Mira Costa came right back when Dakota Randall took a pass from Ryan Silver and fired it into the goal exactly one minute later.

Mira Costa continued to push its lead, getting its final goal and a 12-9 lead with 3:27 to play from Tom Farrell, who led the Mustangs with four goals. Nick de la Espierella, Conor Murphy and Marcus Egeck all scored twice for Mira Costa.

''We needed to take it to them,'' Mitchell Hymowitz said. ''Last year, we were in this same position. We knew how it felt to lose. We were up at halftime to Loyola. They took it from us at the end, unfortunately. But tonight, we wanted it that much more, because we knew what it felt like to lose… We knew we could do it, we just needed a little run and we got it after they pumped those goals in.''

Gibbs, in goal, never wavered. ''We knew we had it in us. We lost to them twice and we weren't losing again,'' he said.

That last Palos Verdes shot? ''I had to look over everybody because he was in the back, but I got it. I saw that ball and it was mine,'' he said.

Now, the Mustangs get their title shot. ''We played Foothill, we played them tight for three quarters and then they figured us out apparently, because they beat us by 10,'' Vinci said. ''But we're excited to play whoever. We're just happy to be here now, We're going to fight hard. We're going to be ready to go, it's as simple as that.''

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