MEHLVILLE • After misfiring on several consecutive possessions, the Oakville water polo team finally found its late game stroke.
Dillon Werner broke a 13-all tie with 53 seconds to play and the Tigers went on to a 15-13 victory over University City in a Suburban South Conference game at Mehlville.
"For two straight minutes, we kept missing the open man and it led to turnovers and they had opportunities offensively," Oakville coach Dan Schoenfeldt said. "Finally, we started communicating a little bit with under a minute to go."
Werner and Brian Kaestner led the way for Oakville (2-0) with four goals apiece.
U. City (0-1) got a six-goal performance from Daniel Egan, while Lawrence McCadney added five goals.
Kaestner had a pair of goals -- including the game's opening tally 43 seconds in - as the Tigers enjoyed a 4-3 lead after one quarter. Egan had all three Lions goals in the quarter.
After a goal by Werner to open the second quarter, U. City scored three straight goals to take its first lead of the game at 6-5, but Oakville responded with three goals in a one-minute, 16-second span and eventually carried a 9-7 lead into the halftime intermission.
The third quarter, though, belonged to the Lions, as they notched the first five goals of the quarter to take a 12-9 lead and ended up outscoring the Tigers 5-2 to take a 12-11 lead into the final quarter.
"We were looking for the open man, we were seeing the game and reading the players," U. City coach Tony Thomas said of the third quarter surge. "Having everybody work as a team was really what it was."
Kaestner's fourth goal of the game 1:32 into the fourth quarter tied the game at 12. That tally made it 10 goals in the season's first two games for the Oakville senior, who was the team's defensive player of the year last season, but has moved up top this year.
"What Schoenfeldt always says is if you want to win a game, you've got to play defense," Kaestner said. "Yeah, you want to score goals, but you've got to stop the other team from getting more goals than you. Really, the first thing for me is defense, but I've got to think offense this year."
The teams traded goals over the next 1:24 to forge the 13-13 tie that lasted for a span of 3:11 before Werner's game winner.
After that tally, the Tigers still needed a defensive stop and got it thanks to Courtney Roland's strong play on McCadney in not letting the left-hander get off a good shot. Ten seconds later, Alex Selinger converted at the other end for an insurance goal to make it 15-13.
"Courtney Roland came up big for us on the corner," Schoenfeldt said. "That guy was itching for the shot and she stayed in strong position and took away the shot and it actually led to a counterattack for us.
"U. City played really well, better than I expected. They did a lot of things well and we got lazy defensively and didn't communicate offensively. They kept battling and I didn't think we were gonna come out of this one with a win. Luckily, we did."
