Lady Lancers fall to Agoura, 3-0, in Marmonte League girls’ soccer contest
TOHS hosts Moorpark tonight
Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers TOUGH NIGHT FOR TOHS—Lancer midfielders Mary Towliat, left, and Gabby Orona converge on Agoura’s Natalie Lemonnier during the Chargers’ 3-0 victory over Thousand Oaks Tuesday night. Below, Charger Kristin Brabant and T.O.’s Katie Coulas battle for the ball.

Coming off a pair of solid results against top competition—a 1-0 win over Royal and a 2-2 tie against Westlake—the Thousand Oaks girls’ soccer team may have been primed for a letdown against Agoura Tuesday night.

Or perhaps Agoura simply outplayed the Lancers.

Either way, Thousand Oaks (52-2, 1-1-1 in league) didn’t look good during its 3-0 loss at home to the Chargers, and they were the first to admit it after the game.

“They weren’t ready to play, I mean that’s it,” TOHS head coach Geoff Raives said. “They weren’t ready to play. I’m not going to take anything away from the other team—they went right at us. They scored goals and they beat us. . . .

“It’s frustrating to go from doing so well to getting beat,” the head coach said. “But that’s just something we’re going to have to deal with.”

Raives went as far as to place the blame for the loss squarely on his shoulders.

“It was my fault that I didn’t prepare them as well as they should have been prepared for this game, mentally and physically,” Raives said. “It’s just a coaching mistake. I’m young and this is my first year. It’s a mistake and I have to learn from it.”

Raives became the team’s head coach following the resignation of former head coach Ashley Cooper.

Cooper is still teaching at the school, but she said she had to give up the head coaching position after two years at the helm in order to spend more time with her family.

Junior forward Katie Coulas said the team has been favorably impressed with Raives’ coaching style thus far. “Coach Raives has warmed up to all of us. He’s been doing an awesome job,” Coulas said. “Coach Cooper was amazing, she was there for all of us girls. But Coach Raives comes in and he can see things from a different view on the soccer field.”

The coach said he likes most of what he’s seen from his team during the early part of the season, both offensively and defensively.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn NewspapeNICE FOOTWORK—Lancer Megan Meyer tries to keep the ball away from Agoura’s Kelley RossThousand Oaks will host Moorpark tonight a 6 p.m. in the team’s final game before winter break.

That was until the loss to Agoura.

On Tuesday night, Agoura (4-1-2, 2-0) got a pair of firsthalf goals from sophomore Kendall Dreyer and junior Natalie Lemonnier to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.

After being held to only a few offensive opportunities in the first half, the Lancers had several chances to score after halftime, but were unable to convert.

Charger senior Alicia Herezeg added the game’s final goal in the 67th minute when her shot deflected off a T.O. defender and into the net.

Thousand Oaks senior forward/midfielder Mary Towliat said the most important thing her squad can learn from the defeat is that no team in the Marmonte League should be taken lightly.

“We need to know that every game matters, even if it’s not Royal or Westlake,” Towliat said.

Thousand Oaks split the league title with Royal last season. Westlake is a perennial league favorite and one of Thousand Oaks’ biggest rivals, if not the biggest.

Still, said Coulas, the Lancers have to learn to maintain their focus game in and game out if they’re going to have any chance of matching or exceeding the success of last year’s team that made it to the semifinals of CIF.

“We didn’t come out as fired up as we did when we played against other teams, for sure,” Coulas said. “But that’s no excuse. We just still need to learn to play with each other through the bad games and the good games.”

The Lancers won’t have to wait long for a shot at redemption. TOHS hosts Moorpark tonight at 6 p.m. It’ll be the Lancers final game until league play resumes in early January.