Lancers' second-half rally knocks off Newbury Park

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers POOL PARTY- Newbury Park's Jessica Wall, left, fires a shot at Thousand Oaks goalkeeper Kristine Kilgore, middle, while Lancer defenders Audra Wheatly, No. 21, and Kaitlyn Potter, No. 14, look on during Monday's Marmonte League matchup at TOHS. The Lancers came from behind to beat the Panthers 8-7 in a game that was nip and tuck throughout. When the Thousand Oaks High girls' water polo team needed a spark Monday afternoon against rival Newbury Park, the Lancers turned to their most reliable and experienced player, junior Whitney Delgado.

Delgado scored three consecutive goals in the third quarter as Thousand Oaks earned an 8-7 come-from-behind victory over the Panthers at TOHS.

With the win, Thousand Oaks improved its overall record to 9-6-1 and 3-1 in the Marmonte League. Prior to Wednesday's game against Royal High, Newbury Park was 6-9 overall and 1-2 in league.

"I always feel that when we're down, I need to pick up my game a little bit and make some things happen," Delgado said. "It never really crossed through my mind in this game, but sometimes it's just a natural thing."

Considering she's the Lancers' only returning varsity player from a season ago, the team's fast start has been all the more impressive, Delgado said.

"We had a meeting awhile back, and I said to my teammates, 'It's not like you're coming on to my team. I'm coming to your team,'" Delgado said. "And it's been fine the entire time. We haven't had too many struggles trying to work things out."

Of course, Monday's game was a struggle for the Lancers early on.

Newbury Park started hot with three first-quarter goals- two by Katie Oatley and another by Carlee McKee- to build a 3-0 lead after the first seven minutes of play.

"We weren't really as prepared as we'd like to be," Thousand Oaks head coach Mike Giles said. "It was a little bit ugly until we got a few things going."

After missing several scoring chances in the first quarter, the Lancers continued to misfire early in the second. Delgado turned T.O.'s fortunes around midway through the second quarter when she snuck the ball past a pair of Panther defenders to score the Lancers' first goal of the afternoon.

Less than a minute later, Oatley netted her third goal to put Newbury Park in front 4-1.

Delgado answered back with 53 seconds remaining in the half on a penalty shot to pull TOHS within 4-2.

Just before the half ended, Newbury Park's Chantelle Savoie appeared to score the Panthers' fifth goal. The referees, however, later disallowed the goal because of an illegal substitution by NPHS.

"They made the right call," Panther head coach Casey Graham said.

Consecutive goals by Audra Wheatly and Kristina D'Itri helped Thousand Oaks tie the match midway through the third quarter.

Oatley's fourth score gave Newbury Park a 5-4 lead.

Shortly thereafter, Delgado answered with three straight scores in the span of two minutes and 36 seconds, the final shot being a buzzer beater that gave the Lancers a 7-5 lead heading into the final quarter.

"She does it all, two-to-two," Giles said of Delgado, referring to his player's ability to contribute on both offense and defense.

"Just like every great player, she goes two meters to two meters."

Down by two goals for the first time in the game, the Panthers didn't quit in the fourth quarter. Oatley added her fifth and final score, and Dana Berlin tacked on another goal as NPHS tied the match at seven with 5:37 left to play.

"We went out there and did our best," Oatley said. "We got the lead, they came back and then we came back. We were tied for most of the game. I think both teams were matched up pretty well."

With three and a half minutes remaining, Thousand Oaks goalkeeper Kristine Kilgore lofted a long pass that fell directly into Nellab Yakuby's arms as Yakuby sprinted into the Panther zone.

Yakuby's shot got past Newbury Park goalkeeper Caroline Jablonicky, and the Lancers regained the lead, 8-7. Newbury Park wouldn't find the back of the cage again, as Thousand Oaks held on for the hardfought victory.

"It was one of the closest girls' water polo games I've seen in high school in a long time," Graham said.