Kamehameha moved one steady step closer to a second straight Division I koa trophy in The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships. After a scoreless first half in the semifinals Friday night at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium, the Warriors put it together to rush past Konawaena 3-0.
It never hurts to have the offensive wizardry of Kalia Kalua at your disposal. Kalua scored twice to finish off the Big Island foes, who were stymied in the semifinals for the second year in a row.
Tonight, top-seeded ILH champion Kamehameha (10-0-2), meets third-seeded MIL champion King Kekaulike in the title game. The school is trying to win it all for the ninth time. King Kekaulike defeated unseeded Pearl City 2-0 Friday night.
>> PHOTOS: Kamehameha vs. Konawaena
Wildcats goalkeeper Kyanah Blas, who is committed to play next season for the University of Hawaii, kept Kamehameha off the board in the first 40 minutes with some clutch saves on the Warriors’ Charis Ramos, Anuhea Aluli and Leila Kahoana.
“At halftime, we just told them to take a deep breath, calm down,” Kamehameha coach Missy Moore said. “We were getting a little frantic. There’s so much pressure on them. They feel it. We told them, ‘Exhale. We got this. Settle down.’ And the second half was much better. I kept thinking, ‘Someone just drill it in there, please. C’mon, can do.’ And that goalie (Blas) is fantastic. She is so good. For us to get some goals on her is just huge.”
Early in the second half, Kalua led Kamehameha’s outburst. A minute after being robbed by Blas on a high blast, Kalua cranked a left-footed bomb into the top right corner to make it 1-0 in the 47th minute.
Kalua was back at it again two minutes later. After a Wildcats penalty in the box, she deposited a penalty kick into the low right corner for a 2-0 edge.
Later, in the 71st minute, Justice Colburn added Kamehameha’s third goal by knocking in a cross by Sienna Inouye.
“That was very well played, a perfect cross, nice touch and nice finish,” Moore said.
The speedy Jadyn Hanks broke free a handful of times for Konawaena, but couldn’t find the prize. Within the span of a few minutes early in the second half (when it was still 2-0), Hanks missed on a breakaway. She may have been tripped from behind by the Warriors’ Tausani Tavale, but no call was made. A bit later, Hanks got a shot off from in close that went just wide and she was called for a push on the play.
Losing starting defender Finesity Salinas-Gouveia, who was hurt and taken away in an ambulance late in the first half after a collision with Kamehameha’s Kaeliah Kahana, was a big blow for fourth-seeded BIIF champion Konawaena (14-2), which fell into today’s third-place game against Pearl City.
“We know we kind of shook them up there,” Wildcats coach Kaua Wall said about keeping the game scoreless at halftime. “The score doesn’t reflect how the game was played. It was more like a 1-0 game. They had to find a way. When Finesity went down, we had to shift a few players. That was a tough one. Their first goal was a beautiful goal. We had a mistouch and they capitalized on the error. Kyanah made some key saves for us. She’s always solid, the backbone of our team.”
A senior, Kamehameha’s Kalua wants to go out a winner.
“Konawaena came out strong and we didn’t expect it,” Kalua said. “We adjusted and finished how we know how to do. We’re definitely excited for the final. We want to finish strong. Our team is so young (five seniors, seven juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen) and we want them to get the chance to experience something like this.”
