King boys lacrosse team holds off Agoura, advances to Division 3 semifinals

RIVERSIDE - There is a certain amount of pressure that comes with being a defending champion.

The King boys lacrosse team is currently experiencing this after capturing the CIF Southern Section Division 3 title last season.

“I told the guys at the start of the season that last year is last year,” Wolves coach Kyle Gilbert. “That was a great experience, but we have to put that behind us and focus on the present. Everybody is coming after us, and you’re only as good as your last shot.”

Wednesday evening, King squared off against Agoura, the team it beat in last year’s championship match. The Wolves scored the first four goals and never trailed during the match, but the defense had to make crucial stops at the end to preserve a 7-6 victory.

King (15-7), the No. 3 seed in the Division 3 bracket this season, will head to Dana Hills (19-3) on Saturday for a semifinal match.

This was the second straight playoff match the Wolves prevailed by a single goal, following an 8-7 win over Oak Park last Friday.

“The past two games, we’ve been a 3 1/2-quarter team,” said senior co-captain Logan Gilbert, who had a match-high four goals. “We need to focus on our conditioning and endurance, so we get through all four quarters and finish games as well as we start.”

King dominated possession and controlled the action in the opening quarter, but the Wolves struggled to get quality looks at the cage early on. Gilbert helped the Wolves finally break through with 2:03 left in the period, scoring off of an assist from Aiden Lim.

Nathan Breads doubled that advantage with 5 seconds left in the opening frame, scoring on an isolation play following a restart. Breads scored his second goal of the match early in the second period, pushing the lead to 3-0 on a carbon-copy isolation drive.

Wyatt Purdy led a counterattack, and Gilbert scored from an assist by Colin Land to give King a 4-0 lead with 9:30 left in the half.

“I was just looking to get some momentum for our team,” Breads said about his two goals. “It was nice getting out to a big lead.”

Agoura (11-8) struggled to maintain possession during the opening half and did not register a shot on goal in the first 19 minutes. The Chargers finally ended the scoring drought when Michael Zemen scored following a rebound with 1:19 left until intermission.

Agoura had a chance to get closer in the waning seconds, but King’s Landon Macias stopped a shot to deny a power-play goal.

Zemen scored his second goal midway through the third period to cut the deficit to 4-2, but Gilbert answered with a goal about a minute later. Lucas Akutagawa added a goal at with 3:49 left in the third quarter, helping King take a 6-2 lead into the final period.

Agoura once again trimmed the deficit in half with a pair of goal in the opening 90 seconds of the fourth quarter. Bronson Gavia scored on an isolation play, and Baxter Banks bounced a shot by Macias to give the Chargers their best momentum of the match.

Macias stopped a shot with 9 1/2 minutes left on the clock, and King went on a counterattack that ended with a goal by Gilbert.

And that proved to be the decisive goal for the Wolves.

Calvin Petkus scored on a breakaway with 5:32 left, and Banks scored again with 4:51 remaining to get Agoura within one goal.

King could not add any insurance goals down the stretch, but the defense stepped up and made sure that lead never got away. Macias made a stop with 2:56 remaining, and Austin Rupley knocked the ball out of a stick for a steal with 22 seconds to play.

The Wolves had some trouble running out those final seconds, but Agoura was unable to get another shot off before the buzzer.

“We made the big (defensive) plays when we really needed to,” said Macias, who finished with nine saves. “We still need to step things up in our next match, and not let one mistake lead to more goals. … Overall, we did well, and I think we can keep it going.”

Kyle Gilbert believes his players are prepared for the challenges that await in the semifinals and possibly another title match.

“We have the rings and appreciate what happened last year,” he said. “But we’re not satisfied with that. We want another one.”

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 1:15 AM.