San Marcos Saves Best for Last Against Agoura : Water polo: Top-seeded team beats Chargers, 11-10, with late goal in Division IV semifinal.

Nearly upsetting the top-seeded team in the Southern Section Division IV playoffs meant little to the Agoura High water polo team.

As far as the Chargers were concerned, it wouldn’t have been an upset anyway.

“We knew we could beat this team,” Agoura Coach Jason Rosenthal said after his team lost, 11-10, to San Marcos in the semifinals of the Division IV playoffs on Saturday at UC Santa Barbara. “We knew what we had to do, and for 3 1/2 quarters, we did it.”

Agoura didn’t trail until Jeff Kircos, a preseason All-American, spun in the hole and fired the go-ahead goal just as his cap was being ripped off his head with 2 minutes 3 seconds to play in the match. It was Kircos’ sixth goal--including three in the fourth quarter--and it gave San Marcos (21-6) its first lead.

Agoura (20-5) had a chance to tie the score when San Marcos’ Marc Klein was called for a foul with 49 seconds to play, giving the Chargers a six-on-five advantage. Agoura’s Joey Vona got off a solid shot from just in front of the goal, but it hit goalie Parsa Bonderson squarely in the chest.

With eight seconds to play, Agoura’s Andy Cohen took a shot that hit the left post, ending the Chargers’ hopes in their first semifinal appearance.

“Coach said we played well against the No. 1 team,” Agoura senior Chris Driscoll said. “I thought we outplayed them, but we made mistakes at crucial times and that hurt us.”

David Arons and Harvey Wilford each scored three goals for the Chargers. Goalie Chris Miko made 13 saves.

The match could not have been much closer through three quarters. The score was tied seven times before Wilford scored on a breakaway with 1:51 to play in the third quarter, giving Agoura a 9-7 lead, its largest of the match.

But San Marcos’ defense then tightened. Several times in the fourth quarter, the Chargers used up the 35-second shot clock without getting off a good shot.

“We weren’t driving much at the end,” Wilford said. “They were playing good defense on us.”

The Royals, who will play Santa Barbara on Wednesday for the championship, were especially tough on Driscoll, the school’s all-time leading scorer with 202 goals. Driscoll was held to two goals in his final high school match, but the loss temporarily overshadowed his statistics and the Chargers’ otherwise successful season.

“Twenty and five,” Driscoll said, referring to the Chargers’ record. “That’s not bad, but it’s still going to haunt me because I didn’t think we went as far as we could have.”