Waiakea’s girl soccer team keeps on making history.
The Warriors spotted Campbell an early goal Thursday but kept on chipping away at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex, winning 3-1 to become only the second BIIF school to reach the semifinals of the HHSAA Division I soccer tournament.
“The girls, they just believe in themselves,” coach Steve Petner said. “They just keep working and we started playing how we play. Possess the ball. We made some nice runs and started getting chances.”
Down 1-0 after just 30 seconds, the first-time BIIF champion, playing in the state quarterfinals for the first time, turned it on for its sixth win in a row.
Keilee Silva scored on a free kick from about 30 yards out, and the senior set up Sienna Beasley’s first goal with a cross for a 2-1 halftime lead. Beasley added an insurance goal in the second half as the Warriors (6-2) continued to pepper the OIA runner-up Sabers (11-3-1) with shots. Petner said his team could have added to its lead, but three of its shots went off either the post or crossbar.
“Campbell’s pretty physical, but we stood strong against that,” Petner said.
Among goalkeeper Journey Morimoto’s best saves was one she tipped over the crossbar.
“Unbelievable,” Petner said. “They cracked some good shots, but Journey came up with them.”
At 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals, Waiakea will take on top-seeded Kamehameha-Kapalama. A BIIF team has never played for a state D-I title. Konawaena reached the semifinals in 2015, 2019 and 2020.
“That’s another big challenge for the girls,” Petner said.
He credited “everyone” – Charlie Silva, KK Hashizaki and, Kaitlin Beatty, Jayda Cuevas-Varize, just to name a few – with helping Waiakea pull through Thursday.
“Riley (Bockrath) helps keep us organized in the back,” he said. “With Aishlyn (Beatty) and Shaunte (Fernandez) outside, people just don’t get past them.”
In another D-I quarterfinal at Waipio, second-seeded Mililani shut out Hilo 8-0 – getting a hat trick from Jaeda Edayan – to send the BIIF runner-up Vikings to consolation play Friday.
Division II
Kamehameha 2, Mid-Pacific 1: Facing its first deficit of the season, the BIIF champion Warriors responded, reaching the semifinals on the strength of goals from Nanea Wong Yuen and Raeshalyn Respicio near the end of the first half.
“We struggled a lot today,” coach Steven Cootey said. “It wasn’t the game I hoped for, but am really happy that we continued to compete and found a way to come back from being down a goal.”
Unseeded Kamehameha (4-0-3) plays top-seeded Kauai at 3 p.m. Friday to try and reach the title game for the first time since 2019.
“I haven’t been able to watch them at all yet, but have been told they are a really good team,” Cootey said. “They like to keep possession of the ball, similar to Waiakea. We’ll need to rely on our defense (Friday) as we have for most of the season.”
The Owls’ goal, courtesy of Anya Pedro, was only the second of the season allowed by the Warriors.
Kamehameha is trying to take the perch that had been occupied by Hawaii Prep since 2014. The Warriors beat Ka Makani 3-0 in the BIIF final to end HPA’s bid at an eighth consecutive state title. The Warriors lost three times in the state final during that stretch: 2015, 2018 and the 4-0 loss in 2019. Their lone state championship came in 2008.
