With the windward skies darkening on the horizon Monday afternoon, Hilo High boys soccer coach George Ichimaru would have done a rain dance if he could.
“Come on, get here,” he said to himself while looking skyward during the first half of the Vikings’ HHSAA Division I tournament first-round match.
Wet weather, for the most part held off, but a familiar postseason feeling for Hilo did not.
“Heartbreak,” Ichimaru said.
Again.
At times, the match seemed destined for overtime, but Kalani found the net midway through the second half at Hilo Bayfront, handing the perpetual BIIF runner-up Vikings yet another frustrating one-goal playoff loss, 1-0.
“It’s hard, it’s getting old, but all I keep stressing is hard work, boys, keep working hard,” Ichimaru said. “If that is your dream, you have to work hard, and that reflects on your life. Nothing is given to you.”
After the match, Hilo’s five seniors – Riley Patterson, Josh Rosario Jack Mann, Caleb Smeraglia and Steven Chung – stood arm in arm as they gave their senior statements and their coach applauded them. The resurgent season for the Vikings (12-4-1) in the ultra-competitive BIIF D-I included a 13-match unbeaten streak and a 41-goal onslaught from Patterson.
“You just saw them blossoming each game as they were getting better,” Ichimaru said.
But, five days after a loss in penalty kicks to Hawaii Prep in the BIIF final, Hilo was left high and dry again.
The Vikings, whose last BIIF title came in 2011, have finished league runner-up six of the past seven seasons, and under Ichimaru’s watch the four losses in the title game have seemed to get increasingly more frustrating. In each instance, like Monday, Hilo was on even ground with 20 minutes remaining in the second half, but didn’t come out on top.
Perhaps that’s one reason Ichimaru hoped the weather could play a factor.
“When the rain comes, Hilo always shines,” Ichimaru said. “It kind of goes in (our) favor.
“I’ve seen teams on Oahu not like playing in the rain. I was hoping just a little bit of slickness maybe would change it in our favor.”
The Falcons (12-2), who bowed out in the OIA semifinals in January, advance to face third-seeded Punahou on Thursday at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
In 2017, the Vikings also hosted a state first-round match, and it got ugly early as Kaiser cruised 6-0.
Hilo and Kalani often played on even terms, but it was clear the Falcons didn’t want to allow Patterson to be a difference-maker. Kalani also held good form on the backline and kept its fouls to a minimum. That helped them avoid facing Patterson’s rocket launcher of a leg. In Hilo’s BIIF semifinal win against Kealakehe, Patterson took myriad free kicks from close range, but he had no such chances Monday on set pieces.
“Once we get to the state level, teams know not to give free kicks,” Ichimaru said. “They knew our offensive threat. When a player scores 41 goals, it raises eyebrows.
Kalani’s goal on a set piece started innocently enough.
A Falcons’ player took a free kick on the right flank from 5 yards inside the center line. The ball floated to the far side, where Minjae Kim tapped it into the left side of the net.
Patterson had two opportunities in the second half on right-to-left grounders, but each time the Kalani keeper got a hand on it to direct the ball off of frame.
Another tough loss, but it’s onward and upward for Hilo.
“This group got to finish at states, and they only got better,” Ichimaru said.
