KEAAU – Miya Clarke looked to be back at peak form with two more goals, and Jordyn Pacheco, who has been peaking all along, got her just desserts as well.
With their scoring acumen and technical proficiency, it can be easy to solely focus on Hilo’s talented senior strikers when they’re gliding around the field like they were Tuesday.
But the Vikings thorough 4-0 victory against Kamehameha in a matchup of BIIF girls soccer unbeatens at Paiea Stadium showcased just how complete a team Hilo can be when it’s clicking on all cylinders.
“It wasn’t easy,” senior center back Karla Ishii said. “It was still challenging.”
(More on Ishii in a bit).
Clarke, the two-time BIIF D-I player of the year is suddenly up to seven goals after going scoreless in her first three, including a match against Hawaii Prep in which she uncharacteristically took just one shot.
“We were able to utilize her speed better, we haven’t been able to do that much,” Viks coach Skee Saplan said. “I think she just needed a little kick-start, and hopefully this was it. Everybody, kind of got off to a slow start.”
Well, not Pacheco, who has scored in each match for Hilo (5-0-1) and is also up to seven goals.
“That’s what we need from (Jordyn), to keep peppering, she had a lot of shots today,” Saplan said. “That’s what we need from both of them.”
And even on the rare occasion when Clarke and Pacheco don’t deliver, Hilo rarely allows goals, giving up just two so far this season and four in BIIF play all of last season. Against the freshman-laden Warriors (5-1), Hilo hardly allowed any opportunities, almost keeping the ball exclusively in Kamehameha’s end of the field
Goalkeeper Saydee Bacdad didn’t have to make a save, a point of pride for Ishii.
“Basically, no goals,” she said of her goal each match. “Just keep it under control and within the team.”
Ishii is one of the least heralded members of the senior eight, a group that is gunning for its fourth consecutive BIIF Division I title, quietly going about her job as an all-BIIF “defensive specialist,” Saplan said, all these years while others get more glory.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Ishii said.
You can bet Saplan takes notice. He considers Ishii and fellow center back Caneel Corpuz, a junior, to be the “spine” of the team along with Bacdad and Kalamanamana Harman.
“She works hard, she keeps it interesting for me with her special moments,” Saplan said of Ishii. “I can feel comfortable with her and Caneel back there.”
Pacheco opened the scoring in the 14th minute from 10 yards out off a nifty pass from Harman, and the way Clarke was running the right flank it seemed like only a matter of time before she struck. Just before the half and just minutes after ringing the post with a shot, she collected a pass from Corpuz and connected for a 2-0 lead.
Clarke assisted on Paige Hiraki’s goal early in the second half, and she made it 4-0 in the 60th minute, with Pacheco getting the assist.
“I’ve been noticing that we play better when we’ve been pressuring for a longer period of time,” Saplan said. “Kamehameha is really good. They kept up the intensity for the most of the game, and that really helped us out.”
The Warriors entered unbeaten but also untested, and it showed. Coach Josh Woodward ushered six freshman into the starting lineup, and they played without injured junior striker Chenoa Frederick. Senior Kaila Ambrosio could be heard giving instructions to some of her younger teammates on the fly.
“It was good for (the freshman),” Woodard said. “They learned a lot more from this game than the first five.”
Kamehameha has three days off before its first of two regular season matches against Division II rival HPA, this one in Waimea.
“Hilo is good, really good, but we could have played better,” Woodward said. “We’re going to get after it tomorrow (in practice).
Boys
Hilo 7, Kamehameha 1: Logan Waltjen scored a goal for the Warriors in the opening minute – then it turned into the Riley Patterson show.
The Hilo senior scored five times as the Vikings (2-2) poured it on in the second half. Patterson has 11 goals in his past two matches and 12 on the season.
“Right now, we’re figuring out our system and it’s starting to flow in his favor,” Hilo coach George Ichimaru said. “With his athletic ability, he’s starting to shine.”
He said Patterson isn’t taking advantage of all of his opportunities, but he’s hitting a high percentage.
A pair of goals from Patterson in the sixth and seventh minutes gave Hilo the lead, and 2-1 was the score at halftime, when Ichimaru credited adjustments with helping the Vikings better defend dangerous Kamehameha striker Jonathan DeMotta.
Logan Mizuna buried his fourth goal for the Vikings and Josh Rosario added his first.
DeMotta entered with a team-high 12 goals for the Warriors (5-2) and was held scoreless for the second time this season. The senior finished with an assist.
