Jackson’s Five Lift Harvard-Westlake Over Agoura, 11-10

Jeanine Jackson had just scored the winning goal in the second overtime, her fifth goal of the match.

But after Harvard-Westlake High outlasted Agoura, 11-10, in a girls’ water polo game Tuesday at Agoura, Jackson sounded more like a goalie than her team’s top offensive player.

“We knew that in the overtime we had to control the ball,” Jackson said. “So we were relying on our defense to get us a goal. The defense saved this game for us.”

That might have been true in the second overtime.

That was when goalie Melissa Lo of Harvard-Westlake had to deflect two shots by Cameron Pearce, including one with eight seconds remaining, to preserve the victory.

But it was Jackson who gave the Wolverines (8-2) the opportunity when she scored from point-blank range to give them the lead with 1:41 left in the second overtime.

“You do what you have to do to get a goal and it worked out for us this time,” Jackson said.

Jackson, a senior who plays for the junior national team, made her presence felt with four goals in regulation play.

Courtney Quinn and Rachel Burkons each scored two goals for Harvard-Westlake.

It made for a frustrating afternoon for Agoura (4-2), which is ranked No. 2 in the region behind Harvard-Westlake.

It was the second time that the Wolverines have defeated the Chargers in less than a week.

Harvard-Westlake scored two goals in the fourth quarter for a 5-3 victory over Agoura in the championship game of the Newbury Park tournament on Saturday.

The Wolverines defeated Agoura, 7-6, in the Southern Section Division II quarterfinals last season.

As frustrating as it has been for the Chargers, Coach Jason Rosenthal tried to emphasize the positive after it was over.

He was thinking more about the goal Colleen Schiman scored to tie it with 42 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Not to mention the two solid scoring attempts by Joanna Antonsen that were turned away by Lo in the final six seconds of regulation.

Antonsen and Chelsey Hutchinson each scored three goals for the Chargers.

“Sometimes close is good and we will learn a lot from this,” Rosenthal said. “This was a big step for our program.”

Since Harvard-Westlake has dropped from Division II to Division III, Agoura can also draw consolation from the fact that it won’t have to face the Wolverines again this season.

That’s just as well as far as coaches from both teams are concerned.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us in our own division,” said Rich Corso, Harvard-Westlake coach. “Agoura has seen enough of us and we’ve seen enough of them.”