Time has come for Chargers to defend CIF crown
AHS girls' water polo team enters postseason without its top player
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers CLOSING IN- Agoura High defender Terri Hopkins, right, is all over Thousand Oaks' Christine Mathewson during the teams' regularseason finale last week at TOHS. Agoura is the league champion.

Winning a championship is always tough. Repeating is even more difficult.

When the Agoura High girls' water polo team begins its quest to defend its CIFSouthern Section Division II title today at home against Ventura, they'll be doing it without one of their best players, senior Casey Flacks.

Flacks, headed to Loyola Marymount in the fall, suffered an injury to her left arm in practice last Friday. On Monday, it was confirmed that the hand was broken and that Flacks will miss the entire postseason.

"Sure, the girls were a little bummed out when they first heard that Casey was out, but they can't dwell on it," Agoura head coach Jason Rosenthal said.

"This is more than a one-girl team. We have many weapons. One of the reasons why we won last year was because we got contributions from every player, not just our top three or four players."

With Flacks sidelined, players who need to step up include junior Casey Clark, senior Terri Hopkins and junior goalkeeper Christina Vournas.

This will be Vournas' first time in the cage during the postseason, but according to Rosenthal, the junior should handle the pressure.

"Vournas was a goalie on her club soccer team for years, so she's used to playing in big games," Rosenthal said. "So far this season, she's done a pretty good job."

Rosenthal understands that with or without Flacks, the Chargers will have a target on their backs.

"We're the reigning champion, and everyone wants to knock off the champion," Rosenthal said.

"This year we don't have as many experienced seniors as we did last year, but, thankfully, the seniors we do have are good leaders. They're showing the underclassmen what to expect."

This season, all three Agoura teams- varsity, junior varsity and freshman- went undefeated in Marmonte League play.

One of the teams looking to knock off AHS is Thousand Oaks, who won a nail-biter at home against Canyon of Anaheim 6-5 on Tuesday in the wild-card round.

The game featured numerous scoreboard malfunctions, as play was stopped three times to fix the clock, including a 10minute delay in the second quarter.

T.O.'s Whitney Delgado scored two goals in the final three minutes, including the game-winner with 8 seconds left on the clock.

"I was so focused on finding a way for our team to come back and win," she said. "The adrenaline was pumping, and after the second half started, the fact that the game was really close kind of woke me up."

TOHS plays today at Palos Verdes, the No. 1 seed from the Bay League. Newbury Park, the Marmonte League's No. 4 seed, plays today at Dos Pueblos, the top seed in the Division II bracket. Game times are set for 3:15 p.m.