High school soccer: Thousand Oaks boys, Oaks Christian girls clinch Marmonte League titles

The goal wasn’t just to win a league championship.

The Thousand Oaks High boys soccer team wanted to prove it was the best team in the Marmonte League.

“If we wanted to be the best, we had to beat everybody,” Thousand Oaks coach Mark Tietjen said. “This year, we did that. We beat everybody.”

Mikey Houghtaling smashed in a rebound on a counter in the seventh minute and the defense kept a shutout as host Thousand Oaks clinched its first Marmonte League championship since 2011 with a 1-0 win over defending champion Agoura on Tuesday night.

“This is a special team this year,” Tietjen said. “We’ve got guys who have been on the team for a few years. We’ve got a lot of experience. We’ve got a lot of depth on this team.”

The result avenged Thousand Oaks’ 2-1 loss at Agoura on Jan.  16, which was the Lancers’ lone defeat of the calendar year.

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“We owed them from the last time we went to their place and couldn’t get the job done,” Tietjen said.

To finish the job, Thousand Oaks needed to keep Agoura striker Kevin Zendejas off the score sheet. The senior entered play having found the net in seven of his previous eight Marmonte League games.

“We’re not defined by just one player,” Agoura coach Jaime Alvarado said. “We’re a team. Kevin is a very impactful player and he has scored a tremendous amount of goals for us. It was definitely a key factor for them, to hold him to minimal shots.”

The Thousand Oaks back four of Kevin Parker, Ben Yesionek, Diego Estrada and Preston Shin kept their third straight shutout ahead of goalkeepers Tristan Crandon and Andy Johnson.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Tietjen said. “We like to play better soccer than that. But you know how championship games are. They’re usually not pretty.”

Thousand Oaks made Houghtaling’s early goal stand up.

“The ball got kicked up to me,” Houghtaling said. “I controlled it and played a through ball to Gabe (Torreblanca). Gabe fought his man off. The ball bounced to me at the top of the (6-yard box) and I just smashed it in far post. It felt unreal.”

Thousand Oaks (12-7-1, 7-1-1) completes its regular season with a visit to Newbury Park on Thursday night. Agoura (9-5-3, 5-2-2) needs a point from its rivalry clash with visiting Calabasas to clinch an automatic playoff berth.

Calabasas (8-2-4, 5-2-2) earned a 3-1 win over Oaks Christian (2-13, 0-9) to stay in third place.

Dragan Vrataric netted a had trick and Blake O’Hearn added a goal to lead Newbury Park (9-9-2, 4-3-2) to a 4-2 win over Westlake (9-6-3, 2-5-2).

Oaks Christian girls defend crown

Avery Oder had two goals and an assist as the Oaks Christian girls soccer team clinched the Marmonte League title with a 5-0 win over visiting Calabasas.

The tight three-team race with Westlake and Thousand Oaks looked like it would be decided on the final day of the regular season Thursday. But the Lions’ win, combined with Westlake’s scoreless draw with Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks’ 1-0 loss at Agoura, allowed Oaks Christian to clinch.

"It’s better for the league when there’s more competitive teams," Oaks Christian coach Sebastian Alvarado said. "It makes it more entertaining when you don’t just have two teams going head to head for a title."

Ella Pfeiffer had two assists and Scarlette Druian, Isa Wieder, and Pippin Taylor scored goals for Oaks Christian (12-3-3, 7-1-1), which won its eighth title in 10 seasons in the Marmonte League.

Liv Ivie had a goal from Tessa Bain’s assist as Agoura celebrated Senior Night with a win over visiting Thousand Oaks (9-2-4, 4-2-3).

Foothill Tech, La Reina girls near titles

Senior Taylor Liston scored from Maddie Wicks’ assist to lift Foothill Tech to the brink of the Tri-Valley League title with a 1-0 win at St. Bonaventure.

The Dragons (9-2-1, 7-1-1 Tri-Valley) can win the league championship with a result at Santa Clara on Thursday. A tie forces a share with Thacher (8-3-1, 7-2-1) while a win earns the title outright.

Maggie Kearin and Brianna Bergstrom both had hat tricks, Jane Staley scored a goal, and Charlotte Wilfert kept her third straight shutout as La Reina handled visiting Villanova Prep, 7-0.

La Reina (10-4-1, 8-1), which has won seven straight matches, can earn a share of the Frontier League title with Grace Brethren by winning at Laguna Blanca on Thursday.

Joe Curley covers high school, collegiate and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks boys, Oaks Christian girls clinch Marmonte League titles