Thousand Oaks soccer beats Corona Del Mar in semifinals
By Wayne Harrison
wharrison@theacorn.com

MICHAEL COONS/T.O. Acorn NO GOAL-Lancer Diego Barrera watches as his attempted goal misses during Tuesday's CIF playoff win over Corona Del Mar.

The Thousand Oaks boys’ soccer team defeated Corona Del Mar 4-1 in a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division II playoff semifinals played at Moorpark College Tuesday and advanced to the CIF championship game for the first time in school history.

The Lancers went ahead 2-0 in the first half on a left-footed goal by Miguel Morales and a header by Chance Myers. T.O. pushed the lead to 4-0 when Jason Leopoldo beat two defenders on the left side and assisted Paul Lupanow. Pedro Gonzalez later found the right corner of the goal to complete the scoring.

"It’s nice to play on a big field like this," said Lancer head coach Mark Tietjen. "Once we got going, you could see that we were the better team. We did what we needed to. We were a little surprised that they didn’t give us a better game."

Tietjen said he received a scouting report from St. Francis, a previous Corona Del Mar opponent.

MICHAEL COONS/T.O. Acorn GOAL-Thousand Oaks's Pedro Gonzalez, left, and Kai Werring congratulate Chance Myers, right, after he scored a goal in the first half of the CIF semifinal game, which was played at Moorpark College.

"A credit to our boys," he said. "We were prepared. We were ready. We had a good scouting report on them. We pretty much knew what they were going to bring. They’re a very direct team, but we stayed organized in the back and we didn’t let them get going."

The Lancers took immediate control of the game against Corona Del Mar.

"They didn’t want to play soccer," Tietjen said. "They didn’t want to put the ball on the ground and knock it around, and that plays right into our hands. We win the ball, we settle, we play soccer. We get it to our guys up top and let them put it away."

T.O. plays on a smaller field during the regular season, but playing on the bigger Moorpark turf actually seemed to help them.

"Using all the space on the big field definitely plays to our advantage," Tietjen said. "Everyone gets involved from the front line to the back line. Anyone can hold the ball, possess the ball. A lot of our guys play high level club soccer year-round, so they know how to play soccer."

Tietjen said this is his most talented team ever, but added that talent alone can’t get you to the championship game. It takes teamwork. He said the Lancers of last year and the year before helped build this team

"Top to bottom, it’s definitely the most talented team," he said. "I think this year’s team is successful, in part, to past teams. Last year’s team and the year before – both very good teams in their own way – they taught these guys that are coming up through the program how to win.

"We have a lot of alumni here," Tietjen added. "And they should share in this victory as well."

But even with talent, last year’s team didn’t coalesce the way this year’s Lancers have.

   "We had talent last year and we felt we could have done this last year and we didn’t get it done," said Tietjen. "It’s a matter of can you get it done when the time comes. The guys that remain from last year’s team learned that nothing is a given.

"You can only go so far on talent," added Tietjen. "You need good teamwork, you need to have a willingness to defend."

The magnitude of the win over Corona Del Mar and the all-around play against Dos Pueblos in round two of the playoffs, showed the Lancers at their best said the coach.

"This game and the Dos Pueblos game are probably our two best games of the season," said Tietjen. "This game because of the caliber of the game and what it meant, getting into the finals, I think this is our biggest win of the season and probably, for that matter, the biggest win in the program’s history."

The Lancer players said camaraderie is a big reason for the team’s success.

"I’m just happy that we made it this far," said senior Kai Werring. "Everyone on the team is pulling together and it’s really fun."

Goalie Kenny Negron agreed. "It feels good because it’s the first time in history that T.O. is going to the final in CIF. We have better communication within the team this year. One more game – I think we can take it."

"The difference this year is the chemistry. Everybody likes each other, we’re all cool with each other, we’re like a family," Gonzalez added. "The mentality is ‘We’re going to win.’"

Thousand Oaks began its playoff run with a 2-1 win over Leuzinger on goals by Morales and Dylan Riley with an assist coming from Gonzalez. Negron made five saves.

In round two, the Lancers beat Dos Pueblos, 2-0, as Leopoldo scored on an assist from Lupanow and Gonzalez scored on an assist from Leopoldo. Negron made two saves in the shutout.

In the quarterfinals T.O. beat Newport Harbor 1-0 in triple sudden death overtime as Leopoldo scored in the game’s 105th minute. Negron made five saves.

The Lancers head to the championship game with a record of 26-3-3.