Newbury Park wins lacrosse title in overtime

Newbury Park clinched the Southern California Lacrosse Association championship with an 8-7 overtime victory last weekend over host Thousand Oaks.

The largest crowd ever to witness an SCLA high school lacrosse game saw Newbury Park jump out to a 4-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Thousand Oaks, playing in its first lacrosse game on its home field, battled back to tie the game at 7-7 at the end of regulation.

With 30 seconds remaining in the first overtime, Will Marinelli buried the game-winning shot to give Newbury Park its first SCLA title.

Marinelli and Mark Wood paced Newbury Park's offense with two goals apiece.

Thousand Oaks' Clay Venetis led the way for all scorers with three goals and two assists.

Following the game, Wood received the SCLA Player of the Year Award. Wood, a senior, will attend the Bridgton Academy in Maine for postgraduate studies where he will continue to play lacrosse for one of the country's top prep school programs.

Thousand Oaks defenseman Josh Bounds was honored as the Scholar Athlete of the Year. Bounds will attend West Point this fall where he will play Division I lacrosse for Army.

Both teams earned a berth in the Southern California Regional Championships, which will be played this weekend at NPHS.

The first semifinal is Saturday at noon and features Thousand Oaks against Edison. The second semifinal takes place at 2:30 p.m. with Pasadena playing Newbury.

Semifinal winners will play in the regional title game at noon on Sunday at NPHS.

The regional champion and finalist earn the right to participate in the State High School Lacrosse Championships on May 30-31, also at NPHS.

Top player honored

The SCLA has named its 2009 all-league teams.

First-team all-league selections are Agoura goalie DJ Bancroft; Newbury Park long-stick midfielder Luke Klein; Thousand Oaks defenders Nick Caparelli and Bounds; Newbury Park defender Westin Taylor; midfielders Matt McQuade of Thousand Oaks, McLean Smith from Newbury Park and Andrew Dietz of Westlake; and attackers Clay Venetis and Dustin Marvin of Thousand Oaks, as well as Wood.

Second-team members are goalie Alex Farrell of Westlake; Agoura long-stick midfielder Cole Schuster; defensemen Connor Saucier of Newbury Park, Agoura's Kevin Beams and Westlake's Adam Smith; midfielders Justin Roberts and Geoffrey Sebold of Newbury Park, as well as Agoura's Sam Bradley and Thousand Oaks' Cameron Chupp; and attackers Canyon Grove from Agoura, Westlake's Tim Farrell and Newbury Park's Marinelli.