Mustangs' First-Half Stampede Garners 23-5 Victory Over Downey

Friday night, Mira Costa Lacrosse fans were treated to a dominant first-half display at Waller Stadium as the ever-improving Mustangs took a 20-1 lead into halftime against Downey.

First-year coach Chris Jewett’s group put on an offensive clinic and used air-tight pressure defense to keep Downey’s trips past midfield to a minimum.

With the Mustangs' top attackman Dakota Randall out the past month with a stress fracture, Jewett moved Chris O’Brien from midfield to attack and the move has paid off brilliantly.

“Our attack is young and they are starting to finally jell," said Jewett. "I moved Chris six games ago and he has stepped up in a big way and been great for us.” 

O’Brien notched four goals in the opening quarter, including a three-goal spurt from the 4:09 mark to 2:07, scoring on a pass from returning All-American midfielder Tom Farrell.

“A lot of young kids have stepped up on our attack," Farrell said. "Defensively, Cody Smith is a guy who knows what it takes to get it done and has done a great job for us too."

O’Brien would tally seven goals on the night to lead the Mustangs' potent attack, followed by Austin Hafdell’s four goals.  Julien Trivers, Smith and Clay Russert would score twice each.

Farrell would assist on a team best five goals, followed by Smith’s four and Ryan Silver with three.

“It was my first two goal game, since I play defense, I was pretty stoked on that," said Smith. "I would have liked to get the hat-trick though."

The Mustangs would lead 9-0 after the first quarter and goalie John Mayfield would allow his only goal of the first half one-minute into the second quarter when Vikings Ian Padilla found the net.

“The first half was really good," said Mayfield. "All our starters were in and that’s basically how we play."

From there, the onslaught would continue as Ryan Kole’s face-off dominance continually kick-started the Mira Costa offense, which put home 11 second-quarter goals.

“Ryan Kole is a great face off guy," said Jewett. "He wins something like 87 percent of his face-offs ,which is unheard of and sets the tone for us.” 

The Mustangs (10-3, 8-1) would take their foot off the gas in the second half, working in reserve team members and cycling through offensive plays en route to their comfortable 23-5 final.

“We are working on the small things, the things we need to do against the best teams," said Farrell. "We don’t look past games, but we are working towards the playoffs and hoping we can go far."

During the past month, the Mustangs are 8-1, with every win coming by double-digits.

“Offensively, in addition to attacking behind the goal, we are sharing the ball more and getting the rotation going more than working up top, which hasn’t been working as much,” Russert said.

Mira Costa’s lone loss during the past month came at home to Palos Verdes, 12-11, but the Mustangs are itching to avenge the defeat with a rematch coming up on Wednesday.

“We lost to them last time 12-11," said Jewett. "This one [Wednesday] should be a good one. Limiting our mistakes is going to be key; we need to limit our penalties. We were a man down a ton of the time in that game."

“These Bay League games are preparing us for another run at the teams we lost to earlier in the year and we are improving game-by-game,” Russert said.