Newbury Park defeats Agoura in Marmonte League water polo

CONFRONTATION-Daniel Moraga of Thousand Oaks battles with Andrew Wedman of Agoura.

The Newbury Park boys’ water polo team defeated Agoura, 11-5, in a match played at Agoura High School last Thursday.

"For the most part, we get better each game," said first-year Charger head coach Dustin Litvak. "(But) today wasn’t a good example of that. It’s been an up and down season for sure. We’ve played real well at times and not at other times. It’s a very inexperienced group and they’re learning with each game."

Agoura was 11-8 overall and 2-3 in league after the loss.

Newbury Park improved to 19-3 overall and 6-1 in Marmonte League play with the win.

PASSING THE BALL-Agoura High water polo player Greg Altmann looks for an open teammate.

First-year Newbury Park coach Jim McMillan, who was co-head coach of the Pepperdine men’s water polo team for 12 years and head coach at Loyola Marymount for four years, said his team’s defense, including the play of goalie Justin Schwaiger, continues to improve.

"You’ve got to have a good goalie, you’ve got to play good team defense," said McMillan. "We try to do a good job of keeping (opponents) shooters off balance and limiting the good shots that a team can have. But he’s (Schwaiger) always there if we make a mistake in the end. He’s a good goalie."

Schwaiger had 19 saves in the win over Agoura.

"It feels good," Schwaiger said about contributing to the many Panther wins. "Last year we barely made it to CIF (playoffs), but this year, it looks like we’re going to do pretty well."

About his role as goalie, Schwaiger said, "It feels good to be needed."

Against Agoura, Billy Doherty led the Panthers with three goals, scoring two apiece were Kyle Ripley, Robbie Bauer and Dan Carson, and Chris Wall and Max Levine tallied one goal each.

Andrew Wedman led Agoura with two goals and scoring one apiece were Zak Cianflone, Danny Polyakov and Greg Altmann.

Bauer and Carson are seniors and Schwaiger said the rest of the team looks to them for leadership.

"I think everybody looks up to Dan (Carson) and Robbie (Bauer)," said Schwaiger, who’s a junior.

But the Panther head coach said Newbury Park isn’t a two-man team.

"I’ve heard people say that we’re a two-man team," said McMillan regarding Bauer and Carson. "I think we’re starting to show that we do have a few more players. We have to be balanced. Robbie and Danny have won us some big games, already, but we need a total team effort. We need a balanced attack."

Bauer said the Panthers (under McMillan) are working toward improving every day.

"We have a system now where we all know exactly what we have to do, and we go out and just do our jobs," said Bauer. "For some of the guys, it’s a lot of new stuff. We want to be getting better throughout the season and peak at the end of the season and for CIF (playoffs). We’re showing steady progress."

Bauer said Newbury Park still can get better. "There’s still lots of room for improvement. We’re nowhere near our potential," said Bauer.

The Panther coach agreed and talked about his role in helping his team improve down the stretch.

"We talk about that," McMillan said about peaking at the right time. "We’re not there yet. We’re still climbing the hill. My job is to keep them focused and keep them motivated and keep them on the right path towards getting better."

For Agoura, Litvak took over this year after former Charger coach Jason Rosenthal became athletic director at Agoura. Rosenthal will remain coach of the girls’ team in the winter. Litvak said his team still hopes to reach the playoffs.

"Our league is tough, but everybody is beatable," said Litvak. "Everybody is in the hunt (for the playoffs) this year. Moorpark is brand-new, so they’re not as up yet, but any of the other six teams are competing for first, second and third place."

Earlier in the season, Agoura took Newbury Park to a triple-overtime before finally succumbing.

"Our goal is always to make playoffs and to go as far as possible," said Litvak. "We’d like to win league along the way, (but) sometimes it doesn’t happen."