Mililani’s dominance of the OIA for the past three years has been equal parts skill and luck.

Tuesday night was no different.

The Trojans began defense of their Oahu Interscholastic Association girls soccer championship —they have won it three years running — with a 1-0 win over Campbell in the quarterfinal round of the OIA tournament at Moanalua.

Mililani’s only goal came in the 16th minute when it earned its first corner kick. Campbell set up a perfect wall, sealing off any hope of a Mililani attacker getting to the ball, but its wall was a little too perfect. Lauren Uehara drilled the ball from the flag to the goal mouth, where it hit the back of a Campbell defender and rocketed past keeper Melissa Ryan.

"You know, we were lucky, the bounce went our way," Mililani coach Ray Akiona said. "Sometimes that is just the way it is. But having that opportunity, working the ball down to get that opportunity, I thought the girls did well. That was a great serve."

Referees agreed, awarding the goal to Uehara. It was her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

History tilted in Mililani’s favor from there, since they have given up only three goals all season and have not allowed more than one goal in an OIA playoff game since losing the 2008 final to Pearl City. They are 11-0 in the tournament since, but they did not show up at Moanalua to rest on their laurels.

"We have a tendency to sit back on it once we get the lead, that is something we are going to work on," Akiona said. "But I thought we attacked pretty well."

Mililani was without leading scorer Brittney Gideon, who spent the game with a boot on her foot after twisting her ankle a couple of days ago. In addition, senior halfback Tara Kamiya hit the ground clutching her knee in pain after trying to clear the ball just before halftime and was down for 3 minutes before being carted off. Mililani might be without both of them for the entire tournament. The Trojans play Moanalua in the semifinals at 5:30 today at Kapolei. The Sabers, who beat Kahuku 1-0 in overtime in the first round, play Pearl City today at Pearl City in the consolation bracket with a state berth on the line.

Mililani (10-0-1) kept the game on Campbell’s end throughout the first half, with keeper Lauren Ishii not touching the ball until the 38th minute. The Sabers (6-4-2), who stacked nine players in the box at times, countered in the second half, getting five chances but couldn’t get a clean shot for athletic scorer Sha’tres Ah Nee. The game ended with Ah Nee battling to get a shot in front of Mililani’s goal, but there was no luck coming Campbell’s way.

"The ball got through, bounced off one of our players," Campbell coach Brett Kagawa said. "It’s unlucky, but that’s soccer. It happens."

Kamehameha wins ILH

The Kamehameha girls soccer team won the ILH on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Punahou, the Warriors’ eighth shutout of the season.

Kiani Halushka and Summer Burnett provided the scoring for the Warriors (10-1-1), who receive the ILH’s seeded berth in next week’s state tournament. ‘Iolani (9-0-3) gets the league’s second berth.

Punahou, which has won the past three state titles, is left out of the tournament for the first time since 2007, when the ILH received only one berth.

Punahou had won the past two ILH titles, and Kamehameha won the four before that.