KEALAKEKUA — Kealakehe flexed its mighty BIIF muscle with a dominating 9-0 victory over Konawaena at Julian Yates field on Wednesday evening. Kealakehe senior Kyle Nickelsen posted a hat trick and and the Waveriders controlled the ball from start to finish for their second league victory of the young season.
KEALAKEKUA — Kealakehe flexed its mighty BIIF muscle with a dominating 9-0 victory over Konawaena at Julian Yates field on Wednesday evening. Kealakehe senior Kyle Nickelsen posted a hat trick and and the Waveriders controlled the ball from start to finish for their second league victory of the young season.
The hat trick was the first of Nickelsen’s high school career.
“Our team passed the ball great and defended great. We scored a lot of goals,” Nickelsen said. “I am pretty happy.”
Kealakehe (2-0) nearly scored in the third minute of the game when Konawaena keeper Anthony Ward was pulled out of position. The Waverider offense had several shot attempts but could not find the back of the net. One minute later, Kealakehe missed another close attempt when a header by Tate Whitney hit the far post.
With 29:04 left in the first half, the Waveriders managed to find the back of the net. On a free kick from 40 yards out, Ward came out of the net but misjudged the flight of the ball. The first Kealakehe shot was blocked, but the ball bounced to Ari Mench, who fired it into the back of the net.
After the first score, the flood gate opened. Less than a minute later Kealakehe found the net again, this time on a Nickelsen shot from inside the box. He nearly duplicated that goal four minutes later when he deflected the ball into the goal with his body from inside the six to give the Waveriders a 3-0 lead.
With 19:30 to play in the half, Kealakehe scored its fourth goal. Kealakehe’s Matthew Jas Castro took a pass inside the box but his first attempt from the six was blocked. However, the ball was not cleared and from a seated position right in front of the goal line, Castro managed to punt the ball into the net
As the first have drew to a close, Konawaena (1-1) managed to push the ball downfield a couple of times but could not get a clear shot off.
Both teams battled back and forth to open the second half but the ball eventually settled down on Konawaena’s side of the field, allowing more opportunities to score for the Waveriders.
About 15 minutes into the second half, Nickelsen scored his third goal of the game when the keeper blocked the ball into his face. Nickelsen said he was pretty lucky on the play.
Byson Guanio, Alexander Grace Double and Kolby Martin scored the next three goals for the Waveriders.
Konawaena had a couple of opportunities to score late. The first chance came with 13 minutes to play when Jorge Malagon took the ball downfield on a counterattack. With one defender to beat, he tried to kick the ball from out wide but iy sailed off target.
The second attempt came on a cross to Kupa’a Fernandez inside the box. Fernandez dove for a header but the ball floated into the hands of Kealakehe keeper Greyson Moore.
With less than two minutes to play, Guanio scored his second goal of the half to make it 9-0, ending the Wildcats’ night a bit early by hitting the mercy rule mark.
“It was a well dominated game — from the get-go all the way to the end,” Kealakehe head coach Urs Leuenberger said. “The boys have been practicing very well and everyone showed a great effort. We just clicked.”
Keaau 2, Christian Liberty 0: Rico-Logan Handy scored two goals and goalies Tyler Beyer and Zane Van Guilder posted the shutout in what was the season-opener for both.
Girls
Konawaena 2, Kealakehe 0: The Wildcats (1-1) got goals from Haena Keawekane and Nalani Wall to down the Waveriders (0-2).
Goaltender Taiana Tolleson recorded the shutout.