Newbury Park, Agoura in lacrosse final
Thousand Oaks, Westlake are eliminated
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers RIVALRY RENEWED- Dustin Fante, left, of the Thousand Oaks Knights, battles Steven Esser of the Newbury Park Prowlers during Tuesday's Southern California Lacrosse Association semifinal match. Newbury Park prevailed, 4-3, and will face Agoura in Friday's final.

After splitting their season series, the Agoura and Newbury Park lacrosse clubs will meet in the Southern California Lacrosse Association championship game Friday night at NPHS.

The Newbury Park Prowlers earned a trip to the final with a 4-3 win over the Thousand Oaks Knights Tuesday night. Agoura landed its championship game bid with an 8-2 victory later in the evening over Westlake.

Agoura and Newbury Park have identical 8-1 records.

"We faced (Newbury Park) twice this season, and we learned they're sound offensively and methodic defensively," Agoura head coach Tyler Gilbert.

"Basically, it's going to be one of those games where whoever wins is going to be the team that wants it more."

On Tuesday night it was Newbury Park who wanted it just a little more than Thousand Oaks.

Trailing 3-2 with six and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, Newbury Park midfielder Mark Wood ran down the left side of the field and scored an unassisted goal to tie the game. Wood finished the match with two goals.

Four minutes later, Prowler midfielder DJ Moosekian scored a goal off a pass from Justin Roberts to give Newbury Park a 4-3 lead with two minutes left in regulation. After winning the ensuing face off, Newbury Park ran out the clock to win the game.

"In the last couple of minutes we were just looking for a good opportunity to score," Moosekian said. "I was looking for a good shot, and my teammates did a great job of setting me up for the game-winning goal."

Afterward, Newbury Park head coach Mario Waibel acknowledged Moosekian's goal as being vital but not the difference in the contest.

"When you boil it all down, our goalie, Kevin Miyamoto, was the player that kept us in this game," Waibel said. "Without him, we'd probably lose 8-4."

Besides assisting Moosekian on the gamewinning goal, Roberts added a goal of his own earlier in the night for the Prowlers. Thousand Oaks received goals from Dustin Fante, Clay Venetis and Dustin Marvin.

In the second matchup of the night, Agoura had little trouble dispatching Westlake.

Although Agoura won easily, things remained close in the first half with Westlake trailing 10 despite a nonexistent offense which didn't have a shot on goal in the second quarter. In the first half, Agoura out-shot Westlake 22-1.

"Westlake's goalie (Alec Farrell) was tremendous in the first half," Gilbert said. "At the half I told my team that we needed to work harder for better shots instead of slinging them from 20 yards out."

Agoura immediately responded after the intermission by scoring on four of its first seven shots in the third quarter. Two of the goals came from midfielder Mike Cammorata.

Cammorata, along with teammate Chris Hogg, finished the game with three goals each.

"(Cammorata) and (Hogg) are both seniors, AllLeague firstteamers and four-year starters," Gilbert said. "When we need a big play, it's been nice to know our team can rely on them."

Friday's championship game is set for 7 p.m.