For the first time in the history of the HHSAA tournament, two BIIF soccer teams will meet in the championship game after both Hawaii Prep and Kamehameha slipped past their emifinal opponents from Kauai on Friday at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.
The battle between Kamehameha and No. 2 seeded Kapaa was intense as the BIIF Warriors edged out the Warriors from Kauai in a shootout 2-1. No. 1 Hawaii Prep also won a low scoring affair, beating the Kauai 1-0.
Hawaii Prep beat Kamehameha-Hawaii twice this season — 2-0 in the regular season on Dec. 12 and 2-1 in the BIIF championship game.
Kamehameha and Hawaii Prep will meet at 5 p.m. Saturday in a match on OC16 Xcast 1.
“This is a great moment for the Big Island,” Hawaii Prep coach Steve Perry said. “I knew that Kamehameha could get there. They are a good team with a lot of weapons. It is good to know that no matter what happens, two trophies will be coming back to the Big Island.”
Kamehameha coach Gene Okamura added that this moment shows that the Big Island is catching up to the level of the rest of Hawaii.
“The teams are coming to Oahu and they are being successful,” Okamura said.
The Big Island Warriors dominated the penalty kicks, winning 3-0.
JC Kerr, Kekai Wong-Yuen and Layn Taylor Glenn each scored and goalkeeper Cyrene Andaya made the save on the first two Kapaa shots. The next two missed their mark.
“Cyrene made a tough save on the first shot and she has been playing pretty well the last three games,” Okamura said. “We struggled a little bit early, but the girls battle for the whole 100 minutes and now we will focus on recovering and keeping our focus for the championship game.”
Hiilei Wong-Yuen put Kamehameha on the board in the first half before Kapaa secured the equalizer in the second half.
Hawaii Prep and Kauai battled to a 0-0 first half of their semifinal game, though Hawaii Prep controlled most of the action. In the second half the ball stayed predominantly on Kauai’s said of the field, but the shots by Ka Makani were going wide.
Finally, with about eight minutes to play, Hawaii Prep broke through with a goal by Emi Higgins. Higgins took a pass from the back and beat her defender, cutting up the middle and sending in a low, hard shot from about 25 yards out. The ball skipped under the Kauai keeper for a 1-0 advantage.
“We controlled the game early on but we could not finish and it was a little frustrating,” Perry said. “Soccer is a weird game sometimes, but I was happy for Emi. She ran the flank and went from 18 to 18 the whole game. She worked hard out there.”
Kamehameha will return to the HHSAA D-II title game for the first time since 2008, when they won the championship. This will be Hawaii Prep’s fifth consecutive appearance in the title game. They have won the last two.
Makua Lani 1, Kalaheo 0: Leiuhiwai Kauhaihao scored in the first half to lift the Lions into the fifth-place match.
Makua Lani (7-6-1)), the BIIF’s third-place team, will face Pac-5 at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Division I
Hilo 3, Kamehameha-Maui 2: Jordyn Pacheco netted two goals and an assist as the freshman-laden Vikings reached the fifth-place match with their first victory at the state tournament since 2001.
Pacheco, a freshman, gave the BIIF champion Vikings (12-1-0) a 3-1 lead in the 59th minute when she collected a pass from sophomore Alyeemomi Amaral and scored from 6 yards out. Freshman Miya Clarke worked with Pacheco, adding a goal and a assist for Hilo, which led 2-0 after 15 minutes.
The Vikings will face ILH runner-up Kamehameha-Kapalama (12-2-1) at 3 p.m. today.
First-year coach Vikings Skee Saplan saw the consolation victory as the first step toward a larger goal.
“The girls need to learn to play at a higher level,” he said. “We’re a little behind because it’s little quicker and a little more physical (at states).
“Today’s win shows us what we need to do to get there. I don’t just want to win (consolation) matches. I want to reach the semifinals, I want to reach the finals.”
