Thousand Oaks defeats Westlake, 15-4, in boys’ water polo match

Thousand Oaks defeats Westlake, 15-4, in
boys’ water polo match

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn GETTING ROUGH-Danny Moraga of TOHS is hit in the back by Ryan Grodman of Moorpark.

The Thousand Oaks water polo team defeated Westlake, 15-4, in a Marmonte League boys’ water polo match that took place last week at Thousand Oaks High School.

Quinn Delgado scored 11 goals in the win over the Warriors. Later in the week, Delgado scored 10 in a 15-8 win over Calabasas. Against Westlake, P.J. Elias had two goals and Lancer goalie Mason Miller made 12 saves. Miller had 18 saves against Calabasas.

Delgado, a senior, and Miller, a junior, talked with The Acorn after the big win over Westlake.

"We’re playing a lot better than we expected to, actually," said Delgado. "I think we’re exceeding our expectations. We’re really stepping up our play lately and a lot of the younger guys are really stepping up, too."

The Lancers improved to 13-7 overall and 4-2 in Marmonte League action after the wins.

"Making the playoffs is probably one of our biggest ones," Delgado said when asked his team’s goals. "We’ve got to keep playing strong defense. That’s been our strong point. When our defense isn’t playing well, we usually lose. If we hold teams to about seven goals, we’ll usually beat them."

Miller enjoys making long passes from his goalie position to assist teammates’ goals. "I like contributing to the offense," Miller said. "It’s something I’ve wanted to do since the beginning. I like passing."

About making some big saves early in the decisive win over Westlake, Miller said, "It adds to my confidence level."

Did he and his teammates work hard to prepare for the season? "We worked really hard throughout the summer and we’re still working hard during the season," said Miller.

Winning league and competing for a CIF title are Lancer goals. A hiccup occurred when Newbury Park overwhelmed T.O. prior to the Westlake match.

"We had a bad conflict with Newbury Park last week and that kind of set us back," said Miller. "But I think we can come back. We need our defense to keep playing well. Defense can lead to a good offense."

Thousand Oaks head coach Michael Giles said his team recently played seven matches in seven days, and except for the loss vs. Newbury Park, he was pleased with his team’s progress.

"Six of those games we really did play outstanding," Giles said. "Newbury Park really did a nice job breaking us down, kind of like what we did to Westlake today where we kind of had their number. Newbury Park was really loaded and ready for us, and handed it to us."

After the 12-4 loss vs. the Panthers, the Lancers made some changes before the Westlake match. "We made some adjustments," Giles said. "Every time we lose, we learn. And what happened was we made some good adjustments and it represented in the game today."

Included in the seven-game spree that T.O. played was a win over Agoura. Later came the Newbury Park loss, after which the Lancers regrouped.

"We had a restful weekend, got our act back together Monday and Tuesday, and here we are today," said Giles after the win over Westlake. "We play Calabasas again—big game—Friday here," he added. "They edged us by a couple last time we played them. We’ll see if we’ve improved."

The Lancers did, indeed, show the improvement that Giles expected when it defeated Calabasas, 15-8, two days later. The T.O. coach said his team hopes to make the playoffs in the very competitive Marmonte League.

"Everybody is in the hunt because we all have one or two losses," said Giles. "It’s dangerous all around."