Thousand Oaks can't keep pace with Agoura

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ON THE BALL—Thousand Oaks High senior Griff Talan, left, fires a shot on goal before Agoura defender James Altmann can get to the ball. Talan had three goals during Tuesday's loss at AHS. If Tuesday's boys' water polo game between Agoura and Thousand Oaks was any indication of what the Marmonte League is going to be like in 2008, then fans are in for a thrilling journey.

The Chargers, coming off an undefeated season in league and a CIF-Southern Section Division IV title, defeated TOHS 15-11 at home in both teams' first Marmonte game of the year.

Thousand Oaks played even with Agoura until the third quarter, when the Chargers outscored the Lancers 61. The quarter included a goal by junior P.J. Iannone as time expired.

"The third quarter just killed our momentum, especially the last-second goal by Iannone," Thousand Oaks head coach Mike Giles said. "We want our goalie taking the last-second shot of a quarter, not defending it."

Iannone, one of only three players returning from Agoura's title-winning team, always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

"Those plays are just lucky," Iannone said. "There's no way to plan those situations. It was a combination of the shot going exactly where I wanted it to and the goalie just not seeing it."

Although Thousand Oaks struggled in the third quarter, the Lancers played well for most of the game.

After AHS took an early 3-1 lead, T.O. came right back to tie the game on a penalty shot by junior Christian Brock and a Griff Talan goal lofted just over the outstretched arms of Charger goalkeeper Bruk Campbell.

"I do that kind of play in practice a lot," Talan said. "I saw their goalkeeper (Campbell) was about four or five feet in front of the net, and I had a good pocket to throw it into. I'm more of a defender, but every once in a while I'll contribute on offense."

Agoura senior Collin Rothermel scored with four seconds remaining in the first quarter to give the Chargers a 43 advantage. The lead grew to 53 moments into the second when Iannone scored off a pass from senior James Altmann.

With 4:45 remaining in the first half, Talan took control of the game.

Talan scored back-to-back goals, including one off a rebound on a breakaway, to tie the score. A minute after Talan scored, Lancer senior Evan Sharpshair scored to give TOHS a 6-5 lead.

After the teams traded goals, Agoura senior David Sparks scored with 17 seconds remaining to tie the match at seven.

Thousand Oaks had trouble closing out quarters all day as its defense gave up goals with 29 seconds or less remaining in a quarter four times.

At halftime, Agoura head coach Dustin Litvak addressed his team.

"I told them we had to clean up our sloppy mistakes," Litvak said. "We had a couple of overthrown passes that were turned into goals for Thousand Oaks. That needed to stop."

The pep talk worked, as Agoura executed better in the third quarter, especially on offense. The Chargers scored the next four goals, including two by Altmann, to give AHS an 11-7 lead.

Iannone's buzzer-beater in the third increased the Chargers' advantage to 13-8.

"In our games this year, we've been coming out a little flat in the first half," Iannone said. "Every third quarter we seem to fall back into what we want to do and what we can do."

Down by five goals, Thousand Oaks showed heart by going on a 3-0 run thanks to two goals by junior Colin Wheatly to pull within two with 1:46 remaining in regulation.

The momentum was shortlived, however, as Iannone scored the last of his game-leading five goals to put the Chargers back up by three.

"P.J. is a good player," Talan said. "We need to do a better job of playing man-to-man defense on guys like him. Our team has some good players that can sprint away toward the goal, but in order to have that happen we need more stops."

Rothermel added insurance when he scored the second of his two goals to give AHS the 15-11 win. Also contributing for Agoura was junior Josh Lefkowitz and Sparks, who had two goals each. Brock led TOHS with four goals.