Sage Hill pulls away from Estancia

Sage Hill School boys’ water polo Coach Tom Norton wonders if a girl goalie has ever led a boys’ water polo team to a league title.

The Lightning suddenly are title favorites after moving out of the Orange Coast League to the new Academy League this season. They’ll play Webb, Crean Lutheran and Whitney in a double-round format.

There is work to be done as Sage Hill attempts to win its first league title in program history. But the part about the girl goalie? The Lightning already have that.

Her name is Rachael Jaffe, and she’s a standout soccer player. Yet, she’s also a four-year varsity player in boys’ water polo.

Jaffe made four saves and had four steals Wednesday, as Sage came alive after a slow start to beat Estancia, 13-6, in a nonleague game at the Eagles’ pool.

“I think more than anything, this year, her senior year, she’s really developed the trust of her teammates,” Sage Hill Coach Tom Norton said of Jaffe, who got valuable club playing time with SOCAL this summer. “I can’t tell you how many compliments I’ve had from other coaches saying, ‘Your goalie is legit.’ I don’t think anyone has a doubt that she can play at this level.”

Jaffe is one of two girls who plays for Sage Hill. Paige Solaas, a junior, also starts. She had an assist and a steal Wednesday.

Chris Wan had five goals and fellow senior Harry Miller added four for Sage Hill (6-4), which has not lost to Estancia in Wan and Jaffe’s four years on varsity. Miller, who transferred from CdM last year, also had four steals and three assists.

Junior center Wyatt Manolakas added three goals and three steals for the Lightning, while freshman Adam Watson had two steals, an assist and a field block. Junior Zach Washer also scored for Sage, which played without sophomore standout Zane Drobenko (shoulder) for precautionary reasons.

Although Estancia (4-9) is no longer a league foe for the Lightning, they appreciate getting a game against a Newport-Mesa opponent.

“It’s good to get the season started,” Miller said. “We’re playing a team that we know before, we’ve played them before. It kind of gets us into the groove of things.”

The Lightning led just 4-3 after the first quarter before increasing their defensive intensity and scoring four unanswered goals in the second quarter. Miller and Wan scored two goals each. Both players scored on a penalty shot that the other one drew.

“We want to have our offense come from our defense,” said Norton, whose team had 18 total steals in the game. “They did a much better job in the second quarter.”

The Eagles cut the deficit to four goals twice in the third quarter, first with junior Jason Chesemore scoring on the power play then with a counterattack goal from Parker Ohland with 1:17 left in the quarter. But they couldn’t get closer.

Kyle Fitzgerald, a junior, led Estancia with two goals and three steals, while Joseph Carrillo and Cobi White (two assists and two steals) also scored. Estancia senior Chris DeFrenza had two steals and an assist, and sophomore goalie Eizik Leyva made six saves.

“They were a little faster,” said Estancia Coach John Carpenter, who also questioned his team’s erratic passing at times, of the Lightning. “They definitely had some counters on us, and their outside shooting was just phenomenal today. Our defense, on the drop, is set up to give an outside shot with pressure. Even under pressure, from seven meters out they were just peppering the high corners. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

“Our drop has worked really, really well all year, but sometimes you get a team that can just pepper [the goal] from the outside. Now you’re kind of stuck. ... if they have good center play and two good outside shooters, it creates a big problem.”

Estancia has had a problem making the CIF Southern Section playoffs in recent years, as the Eagles’ last appearance was in 2010. To make it in Division 3 this year, Carpenter knows that his team must finish top three in the Orange Coast League. That makes Estancia’s league games against Saddleback (Oct. 7 on the road) and Godinez (Oct. 21 at home) important. Then the Eagles can go into their Battle for the Bell game at crosstown rival Costa Mesa on Oct. 28, the league finale, more relaxed.

“We beat Saddleback and we beat Godinez, we’re top three in league,” Carpenter said. “We beat Mesa, frosting on the cake.”

Sage Hill, meanwhile, plays at rival Costa Mesa on Wednesday. The Lightning start Academy League play on Oct. 13 against Crean Lutheran. The first game against Webb, which is considered Sage’s main opposition for the league title, is Oct. 20 at University High.

“We had a team chat the other day at practice,” Norton said. “I just told them, ‘Hey, you guys have a chance to make history.’ In the 10 years I’ve been at Sage Hill, we’ve never won league. In the past, they weren’t even in a league. Before I came on, they were freelancing ... we’ll see what we can do.”

Expect Jaffe and her teammates to be ready. She said she likes being the lone goalie after sharing the role last year with graduate Zach Drobenko.

“I like it a lot better, because I can get in the groove of the game,” Jaffe said. “Even though I had a pretty bad first quarter [today], I think we brought it back. I was able to redeem myself.”