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Sports

Costa's Jake Miller Makes Most of Last Chance

The Mustang senior scores the game-winning goal with 4.25 seconds remaining to beat La Cañada 5-4 and put his team into the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 water polo tournament.

Jake Miller wasn't a factor for much of the contest but he picked an ideal time to figure in the outcome. With Mira Costa High's season in jeopardy, the Mustangs clinging to their postseason lives, Miller came through like a champ.

His game-winning goal with 4.25 seconds remaining lifted the Mustangs to a thrilling 5-4 victory over La Cañada on Friday in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division 3 water polo playoffs.

"Our offense was out of sync the whole game," Miller said. "Our coach was saying, 'Keep playing your defense and hang in there, you're going to get an opportunity to win this game.' We drew up a play and it didn't work, so we had to adjust. I just put it away.

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"It was a tough game offensively, really frustrating," said Miller. "We couldn't really figure out what we were doing offensively. I think this was one of our lowest scoring games. Our shooting was just bad. I was drawing double teams and we were missing open shots that we should have put away. But that play saved the whole year."

With the win, Mira Costa advances to the semifinals where it will meet Laguna Beach at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine.

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The winner of that match will play for the division championship at 5 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Woollett Center.

Mira Costa (23-8) is fortunate it won the match. The Mustangs were shut down offensively for much of the contest before rallying in the final quarter. La Cañada (18-9) outplayed them, beating them to loose balls for much of the match, and had chances to bounce the Mustangs from the playoffs.

But Mira Costa, which beat La Cañada in two of its three meetings this season, rallied in the fourth quarter and stunned the Spartans in the end.

"We have some plays we try to run, but, you know, I said, 'We have one chance to win the game here and if we don't win it, it will end in a tie and go to overtime,' " Mira Costa coach Jon Reichardt said. "It was up to them and they did it.

"We could have scored 10 more goals in this game. We just couldn't put the ball in the net," said the coach. "We missed some easy shots that didn't go in, but when it came down to it the defense is what kept us in the game. That's all that matters now."

Mira Costa trailed until Ryan Koverman tied the score at 4 with 4:54 remaining. His goal came less than two minutes after Trevor Roszkos had given La Cañada a 4-2 lead 28 seconds into the fourth period, but the Spartans failed to score again.

Both teams had opportunities to take the lead before Miller delivered, but both defenses prevailed. The Spartans missed a chance on their final possession, but allowed the shot clock to expire.

That set up Miller's game-winning goal.

In the first half, the Spartans had dictated play. Their defense forced Mira Costa out of its comfort zone and forced the Mustangs to take tough shots with the shot clock running out. They held Mira Costa scoreless until late in the first quarter, when Koverman scored with six seconds remaining in the period.

But La Cañada held Mira Costa scoreless for the rest of the half, taking a 3-1 lead into halftime.

Mira Costa, which limited the Spartans to only one goal in the second half, turned up its defensive intensity in the third quarter and that sparked its offense. Charlie Manclark's goal with 5:12 remaining in the period cut La Cañada's lead to 3-2 before the Mustangs' comeback in the fourth.

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