Mililani’s path to an 18th OIA girls soccer championship remained open after a tidy 1-0 victory over Aiea on Thursday night at the Kapolei High field.

The Trojans (11-1) struck for their goal in the first half, when they were in control of the flow of play. Aiea (10-2-1) found more space after the break, but to no avail against a blanket defense that was dramatically aided by a super and controversial save from goalkeeper Sydni Nakamura.

On Saturday, Mililani plays Moanalua for the title at Kapolei.

“We’re definitely trying to cement our culture, our philosophy of the game, and the girls have absolutely bought in,” Trojans first-year head coach Darren Smith said. “We need to make sure that the primary threats are always contained and that we limit our mistakes. We recognize they are a team that counters very well. The last thing we wanted is for our backs to be exerting more than they should and for them to be put into dangerous situations.”

Cece Jenkins’ 30-yard direct kick in the 36th minute that went over the outstretched arms of Na Alii goalkeeper Shayla Sugai was the only goal of the contest.

Aiea’s best chance of the night was a long, floating ball off the foot of Brynn Shimabukuro in the second half that proved to be a major test for Nakamura, who had to backpedal and reach high to stop the ball as it arced down.

“That was actually in,” Na Alii coach Benji Villaflor said. “Even Moanalua (waiting on the sidelines) was saying it was in. The (assistant referee) was not on the line, so it was hard for him to see. From my angle, I couldn’t tell, too. But what the Moanalua people were saying was that it hit the (crossbar), went in and bounced down on the line. According to them, they all saw it go in. But we should have buried that into the net and we had other opportunities we should have put in.”

Nakamura described that play like this: “We knew they were going to come out with a lot of shots (in the second half) because they were down 1-0 and they were playing hard. Then all I see is the ball get kicked up, so I just kept my eye on it and followed it until it went into my hands and rolled off my body.”

In the first half, Mililani’s attack was flowing and effective, with Kayla Murakami, Mehana Ortiz, Aubrey Dunaway, Kiana Muratsuka and Nicole Ando applying the pressure. Na Alii, for the most part, kept them at bay, led by the defensive work of Phoenix Dawn Miranda and Kaira Riingen.

The victory by the Trojans avenged a 1-0 loss to eventual league champion Aiea in the OIA semifinals a year ago. That loss ended Mililani’s string of three OIA titles in a row.

All is not lost for Na Alii. They’ll play for third place tonight against Campbell. After that, along with the other top-six league teams, they’ll head to the Division I portion of the Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA State Championships, Feb. 3-8.

“We told the girls to let this game go,” Villaflor said. “It’s beyond our control already. We lost and we’ve got to get our minds right for a big game tonight.”

Moanalua 2, Campbell 1

Tichalynn Barroga scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute to give Na Menehune a victory over the Sabers in a matchup of unbeatens in the late semifinal.

Na Menehune will be trying for their fourth OIA title and first since 2012.

Earlier, in the 16th minute, Na Menehune took a 1-0 lead on Taylor Hayes’ booming shot from 35 yards out.

Campbell tied it 1-all in the 25th minute on Jourdyn Curran’s blast from 12 yards out on a pass from Haley Blossom Seleni.