DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Mustangs’ Mucha comes of age

Brittany Mucha and her Costa Mesa High girls’ water polo teammates were embarrassed.

It was Dec. 5, and the Mustangs had just lost at Dana Hills, 21-0, which is a better score for football than it is for water polo.

Coach Tim Postiff wasn’t happy after the game, either, as Costa Mesa dropped to 0-4.

“Coach Postiff told us, ‘It’s going to be a long season for you guys if you don’t get your act together,’” Mucha recalled. “After that, our performance in practice completely changed. We started working as a team.”

The change was there individually for Mucha as well. A two-year starter at goalie, the senior started working harder in practice, arriving early and staying late. It paid dividends on Jan. 10, when Costa Mesa beat Sage Hill, 6-3, to give the Mustangs the inside track on a CIF Southern Section Division II playoff spot.

After beating Western the next day, the Mustangs (10-9, 2-1 in the Orange Coast League) had their sixth victory in a row. Mucha, with her precision passes to start the Costa Mesa counterattack, was in the middle of it all.

“I never thought I’d be a leader,” said Mucha, who has 136 saves on the season. “I’ve always pictured myself as one of the other girls. But I think I’m doing a good job. I’m setting a good example, I go to practice all the time and I think I work hard.

“Except in swim sets, because I hate swimming,” she added with a laugh.

Mucha wasn’t always the hard worker. Her junior year, her first as varsity starting goalie, she said she occasionally skipped practices and slacked off. The Mustangs advanced to the second round of the Division VI playoffs, but Mucha and her teammates knew that Division II would be tougher competition.

“This year, I kind of woke up,” she said. “I realized that it’s going to take a lot to go to CIF.”

Postiff said he definitely noticed a difference in his goalie.

“It has been her being motivated and finding a sense of pride,” Postiff said. “I think she recommitted herself to playing and playing well. Ever since that morning after [the Dana Hills loss], when we had practice, she has been working extremely hard to get better in every aspect.”

Mucha, who never played sports before coming to high school, now hopes to continue playing water polo at the next level at Citrus College in Glendora. The youngest of five sisters, she said her older sisters played basketball and softball.

“They never liked water sports,” she said. “But my dad [Gary] is excited, because he’s learned a lot about water polo. He’s glad I chose something different.”

Part of her improvement is credited to Costa Mesa assistant coach Justin Taylor, who happened to be the Mustangs boys’ goalie on their 1995 section-championship team.

Taylor said Mucha has improved her body positioning and patience in the cage the most. Taylor added that she has been “on fire” over the last six or seven games, which, not coincidentally, corresponded to the Mustangs’ winning streak before losing at Laguna Beach, 17-2, on Wednesday.

The Breakers are the top-ranked team in Division II.

“Her passing has been excellent, especially in the Sage Hill game,” Taylor said. “We probably lose a couple of goals if she doesn’t get the ball out like that. That’s one of the things that really helps us out, getting our counter going, especially when we play in bigger pools.”

Mucha is one of three seniors on the team, along with Abbie Dyvig and Talhia Nuñez. Her leadership has helped guide the Mustangs to heights that Mucha didn’t think were possible.

“With her, I always thought it was confidence,” Postiff said. “For someone who never played any sports before coming to high school, I think she finally has that mind-set it takes to be a good athlete. She’s always had the skills and the tools, she just didn’t have the mentality until we lost really bad.”

Her mentality is now that of a winner, and it’s rubbing off on her teammates.

“We’ve surprised ourselves,” Mucha said. “We’ve gone a long way. We’re probably going to get into CIF if we continue working hard.”

BRITTANY MUCHA

Hometown: Irvine

Born: May 14, 1989

Height: 5-foot-8

Weight: 170 pounds

Sport: Water polo

Position: Goalie

Coach: Tim Postiff

Favorite food: Mexican food

Favorite movie: “Garden State”

Favorite athletic moment: “Beating Sage Hill this year”

Week in review: Made 13 saves as the Mustangs won an important league game against Sage Hill on Jan. 10, then added 11 the next day in a nonleague win over Western.