Agoura Gets the Jump, Beats Harvard-Westlake

Coach Rich Corso of Harvard-Westlake High did not seem bothered that his team, ranked third in Southern Section Division III, would be playing the second-ranked team in Division II without All-Southern Section player Courtney Quinn.

“There are no excuses,” Corso said before Wednesday’s nonleague showdown against Agoura. “No matter who plays, we have to believe we’ll go in and do our best.”

Despite Corso’s optimism, the Wolverines (17-6) certainly missed Quinn, who injured her neck in a Mission League game against Alemany on Tuesday. Agoura defeated Harvard-Westlake, 9-6.

Agoura (22-4), which has six All-Southern Section players, scored twice in the first 62 seconds on its way to a 4-0 first-quarter lead.

“We were fairly lethargic,” Corso said. “I wasn’t happy with their defense in the first two quarters. They saw Courtney sitting on the bench, gave up two easy goals and played like they were discouraged.”

Cameron Pearce needed 22 seconds to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead, and she notched her first of two assists 41 seconds later when DeDe Perram scored.

Erica Clark scored with 3:37 remaining on a shot that traveled three-quarters of the length of the pool, and Joanna Antonsen scored her first of three goals as the quarter ended.

Clark’s biggest contribution came at the other end. She defended Paloma Slezak, Harvard-Westlake’s other All-Southern Section player.

Slezak connected on two of 10 shots, one from seven meters with 6.2 seconds remaining in the game, and had two assists.

“I tried to keep her from all the tricky stuff,” Clark said. “I didn’t want to get kicked out, because she’s real good at spinning people.”

Slezak and Emily Caesar scored second-quarter goals for Harvard-Westlake, but Antonsen had scored twice to give the Chargers a 6-2 halftime lead.

Corso’s strategy was to collapse on Perram and apply pressure to the ball.

Perram had one goal and two assists, but the Wolverines didn’t really start applying pressure until the third quarter.

Corso switched to a double-post offense in the third quarter, which Meg Zepfel and Caesar exploited against Agoura’s reserves to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Agoura Coach Jason Rosenthal reinserted his starters with 4:41 left and Hutchinson scored her first goal 28 seconds later.

Hutchinson scored twice in the fourth quarter before Rosenthal pulled his starters with 4:18 left.