KEAAU – This wasn’t a tale of redemption. This story centered around Lahela Rosario, Emma Kanoa, Seizen Alameda and Cassidy Farias stringing together pinpoint passes.
Aubrey Michele Carter didn’t care about revenge, just suffocating defense.
Restoring its legacy didn’t matter nearly as much to Kamehameha as Nani Spaar’s length at goalkeeper did.
Drawing motivation from purer principals – love of each other and the game – the Warriors scored a commanding 12-4 victory against Kealakehe at Naeole Pool to return to the top of the BIIF water polo pecking order.
Afterward, they sounded as if they’d never left.
“We were talking about how we’re already part of a legacy, which is really important to me because water polo is just a game,” said Rosario, a senior who led the onslaught with five goals. “This game is all about life skills. Starting a new legacy wasn’t the most important thing, it was continuing a legacy. Especially for us, because we’re Hawaiians and we’ve been through so much.”
Left high and dry last season after being knocked out in the semifinals by the Waveriders, coach Dan Lyons was back in a familiar post-championship game predicament – he was soaked after being shoved in the pool. Kamehameha (14-0) claimed its eighth BIIF crown in nine years and capped its first unbeaten league season since 2014.
“We had almost 40 girls on our team, and they did a good job about creating enthusiasm for water polo,” Lyons said. “We have a lot of freshmen, and i think it proves were going to be really good in the future.”
“There are a lot of girls who can play this game that didn’t get into the game,” he said. “It’s hard, I love them like my own daughters.”
Partnered with Kanoa in a double-post look, Rosario set the tone with a nifty goal in which she turned to her left to make a defender over-commit and then went back to her right to score.
Some of her other opportunities came easier thanks to Kamehameha’s crisp ball movement.
“Sometimes we connect so much we just know what to do,” Rosario said.
Kanoa and Carter each helped drive the point home with hat tricks, and Carter spent just as energy on defense in trying to neutralize Maiana Villegas, who was held to two goals after netting five for Kealakehe (10-4) in the semifinals.
“It definitely wasn’t about revenge,” Carter said. “It’s about winning, playing our hardest and using our skill-sets that we learned during practice.”
Kealakehe will host a team from the OIA on April 30 at Kona Community Aquatic Center in the first round of the HHSAA tournament. Kamehameha prepares for a state quarterfinal game on Oahu on May 3.
Waveriders coach Chris Chang said his team was caught off-guard by Kamehameha’s offensive execution in the early going.
“I had to teach them a brand new defense right in the middle of the game,” Chang said. “Toward the end, they were nailing it. They had it on lockdown defense.”
Ultimately, Kealakehe biggest problem was Kamehameha’s defense.
Meiling Kam, Villegas and Hannah Tomlinson spurred a run with goals to get the Waveriders within 4-3 with two minutes left in the first quarter, but Kamehameha scored the last five goals of the first half and Kealakehe didn’t get its fourth goal until there were 33 seconds remaining in the game.
“I try and do my defense and just help the team out because I know we have offensive players,” said Carter, a junior. “I do it so the rest of the bench can get in the game. That’s important, because they are the next people coming up.”