The Mililani girls soccer team has mastered a skill that’s not normally seen in the sport: scoring in bunches.
Mililani scored on an own goal and added scores from Mari Ige and Tavena Oliveira during a three-minute span of the first half in a 3-0 victory over Campbell in the final of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament Saturday at Kapolei.
“We recognize we need to be efficient with our finishing and they were just that in the first half. It was a brilliant burst we had there,” said Mililani coach Darren Smith.
Mililani (13-0) will be the OIA’s seeded team and receive a first-round bye at the HHSAA Girls Soccer Championship, which starts Feb. 21. Campbell, Pearl City, Moanalua, Kaiser and Waipahu also will represent the league at the tournament.
Mililani has won 19 OIA titles, including the past two under Smith.
“Winning the championship was our goal since the beginning of the season,” said Oliveira, a sophomore. “We couldn’t have done it without the coaches and their discipline with the girls.”
It’s safe to say the Trojans had too many offensive weapons and a solid line of defense against their OIA opponents this season. They outscored their opponents 86-1 in 12 OIA matches, with another victory coming via forfeit. The only player to score against Mililani was Campbell’s Cheyenne Mattos in a 3-1 Trojans victory on Jan. 28.
In a semifinal game Thursday, Mililani, the West’s top seed, scored three goals on its first four shots over the first 26 minutes in a 4-0 victory over Pearl City.
“We’re all talented players and we all have the ability to score goals quickly,” Oliveira said. “When you have the tools, it’s easy to finish it.”
Against Campbell, the Trojans went up 1-0 at 20:34 when a pass from Kiana Muratsuka went to Jade Alverio, whose shot went off a Sabers defender, off the right post and into the net for an own goal.
“They have scorers, dribblers and players that are composed on the ball, and great attackers. They capitalized on a few of our mistakes,” said Campbell coach James Curran.
Ige, a junior, tapped in a rebound from in close at 22:39 to make it 2-0.
“All I know is, I was in the right place at the right time,” Ige said. “Even if the goal wasn’t a spectacular goal, a goal is a goal in the end.”
Oliveira took a long lead pass down the middle from Muratsuka, made a nice first touch to her right past the goalkeeper and tapped it in to make it 3-0 at 23:17.
“I was open on that run and she just chipped it right over the defense and I just touched it around her and tapped it in,” Oliveira said.
Mililani had nine shots on goal in the first half, while Campbell (10-2-1) had two.
In the second half, Campbell, the West’s second seed, settled down and had four shots on goal, while Mililani had three.
“They came back and they fought. Second half, we talked it out and we made one simple adjustment and we held them to zero in the second half,” said Curran, who added that his team went back to playing its game.
