Agoura gets aggressive

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers SLIDE TACKLE—Agoura High's Almog Strikowski, left, attempts to block Moorpark's Honorio Hernandez Jr. during Monday's match. The Chargers enter tonight's regular-season finale at home vs. Simi Valley with a shot at the Marmonte League title, but they need Westlake to lose or tie. During the second half of Tuesday night's Agoura High boys' soccer game against Calabasas, nobody was more anxious to score than Charger junior Tyler Buron.

Agoura already had a commanding 4-0 lead, but that was beside the point. Buron had two goals, and he wanted a hat trick.

Having bumped knees with a Calabasas player earlier in the match, Buron was a little banged up. AHS senior captain Michael Uyehara saw this and calmly walked up to the junior.

"Hey, sit down, Tyler," Uyehara shouted. "We need you healthy for the finals!"

Buron may have longed for three goals, but the entire squad wants something even bigger—a section championship.

There may not be a team entering the postseason hotter than Agoura (13-6-6 overall, 8-3-2 in league). During the first half of Marmonte League play, the Chargers went 3-3-1.

But then something clicked. Entering tonight's home game against Simi Valley, Agoura has gone 5-0-1 in the second half.

"Everything started to turn around after the first time we played Simi Valley," senior captain Almog Strikowski said. "We had a 2-0 lead, but we ended up losing 3-2. We realized that we have to win games like that and not let teams back in the game."

Agoura got the message and has outscored its opponents 17-5 in its last six games.

Leading the Chargers' offense has been Uyehara, who has a teamleading 28 goals and 14 assists. After taking a year off to play for an academy team, Uyehara is having a great time at the high school level.

"The bottom line is that it's more fun playing in high school," Uyehara said. "I feel the team's chemistry is great, and I love playing with these guys. As far as playing individually, I feel my confidence is better."

Head coach Andrew Staiano is thrilled to have Uyehara back.

"I believe he's the most complete player in the league," Staiano said. "He's probably also the quickest player in the league, and he's very smart."

Uyehara has done a great job setting up his teammates, including Buron, who has 18 goals.

Buron "just has a knack for finishing well," Staiano said. "He's very good on his feet, and one-on-one he can take anyone."

Other offensive weapons for Agoura include senior Emerson Wahl, sophomore Zach Bernstein, junior Adam Strikowski, and freshmen Doug Wong, Jaime Alvarado and David Gallop.

Defensively, the Chargers have played well thanks to junior goalkeeper Brian Felberg, who's posted four shutouts.

The squad's back four, consisting of senior Almog Strikowski and juniors Chris Kinney, Joey Shuster and Kevin Meredith, have helped make Felberg's job easier.

On Tuesday, Calabasas had no shots on goal the entire match.

Staiano said Agoura's hot streak will lead to positive results in the postseason.