Simi Valley Girls Pull Rank on New Marmonte Member Agoura, 1-0

The Simi Valley High girls’ soccer team has remained consistently strong in the Southern Section 4-A Division, and the team is currently ranked second.

Agoura has had unparalleled success at the 2-A and 3-A levels before moving to the powerful 4-A Marmonte League this season.

And when the two teams met Tuesday night at Simi Valley High, the result was anything but shocking: The team with experience in the 4-A came out on top.

Pioneer striker Liz Albin scored on a corner kick at the 34-minute mark in the first half to lift Simi Valley to a 1-0 victory in a match plagued by high winds.

The win put Simi Valley (16-1, 5-0 in league play) on track for a second consecutive outright league title and dropped Agoura to 10-7, 2-2.

“I thought we were a very effective team tonight even with the wind,” Simi Valley Coach Mark Johnson said. “We’re not putting tons of goals in. Our league is a lot of one-to-nothing and two-to-nothing games.”

The addition of Agoura further strengthens a league that already ranks as one of the two strongest in the 4-A. The Chargers won three 2-A titles in a row from 1986-88 and won the 3-A championship in 1989. Agoura advanced to the 3-A quarterfinals last year but was eliminated by Redlands.

“It’s very competitive but so are we,” Agoura Coach Dave Godwin said of the league and his team. “We don’t get that many scoring opportunities. . . . but we’re not getting blown out.”

Simi Valley played for the 4-A championship two years ago but lost in overtime, 4-3, to Capistrano Valley, a South Coast League team. The Pioneers advanced to the quarterfinals in 1990, capping a 26-2 campaign.

“Our league is probably the toughest outside of the South Coast League,” Johnson said. The South Coast League boasts No. 1-ranked El Toro (17-0-2) and defending 4-A champion Dana Hills.

Simi Valley peppered Agoura goalkeeper Michelle Ray with 11 shots and the junior saved seven--including two spectacular stops in the second half.

In her first year in the cage, Ray leaped to block Cristine Spencer’s free kick from 35 yards and, about 30 seconds later, made a lunging save on an Amy Powell shot from 15 yards.

Albin’s goal, her ninth this season, curved in toward the Agoura goal and slipped through Ray’s outstretched arms, bounced on the goal line and into the net. Albin leads Simi Valley with 15 assists.

Agoura managed only two shots toward the goal: The first landed in the net outside the right goal post in the first half and the second sailed over the cross bar in the second half.

Simi Valley’s defense has been effective at keeping the ball out of Pioneer territory and may be the most potent in the area.

Agoura played a hurry-up offense in the closing minutes in an attempt to force overtime but the Simi Valley defense thwarted every shot opportunity the Chargers presented.

“Our defense is always strong,” Johnson said. “Our midfield line doesn’t let the ball get through. That’s the strength.”

The victory was Simi Valley’s second over the Chargers this season. The Pioneers beat Agoura, 2-1, in the championship game of the Simi Valley tournament four weeks ago.