Thousand Oaks Dodges Newbury Park, 8-6

Thousand Oaks High goalie Mike Fino admitted he felt more like a survivor than a winner Wednesday after the Lancers had held off Newbury Park, 8-6, in a Marmonte League water polo match at Thousand Oaks.

“I kissed the (goal) post when I left the pool,” Fino said. Four Newbury Park shots hit the post and bounced harmlessly away during the second half.

Thousand Oaks (5-7, 1-2 in league play), which lost to Royal and Agoura last week, needed the victory to have a chance in the league playoff race.

Trailing, 3-2, at halftime, the Lancers erupted for six third-quarter goals, three by Mark McKenna, to take a seemingly comfortable 8-3 lead. Two Newbury Park shots glanced off the goal post during the period.

“They were really anxious to score goals in the third period.” McKenna said. “As a result, their defense let down and some scoring opportunities arose for us.”

But it was the Thousand Oaks defense that nearly fell apart in the fourth quarter.

Scott Coble of Newbury Park (7-5, 1-2) scored on a power play and a penalty shot in the first minute and Adam Foir converted another penalty shot with 2 minutes 10 seconds left to cut the margin to 8-6.

The Lancers dodged a bullet moments before Foir’s goal when a shot by Foir deflected off the right post and bobbed across the goal mouth, enabling Fino to clear the ball. With one minute to play, Newbury Park’s Justin Lowtrip fired a shot off the inside of the right post.

That was the Panthers’ final opportunity, however, and Thousand Oaks recorded its 21st win in its last 22 matches against Newbury Park.

Coble scored three goals for Newbury Park, Foir two and Lowtrip one.

Sean Flynn added two goals for Thousand Oaks and Blake Davis, Joe Stephens and Clay McDaniel each had one.