Kamehameha-Hawaii goalkeeper Jacob Aiona will honor his promise: His team won the state title Saturday, now it’s time to lose his hair.
Aiona made nine saves, then added two more in the penalty-kick shootout as Kamehameha-Hawaii beat Seabury Hall 2-1 (4-3 PKs) in the Division II final of the NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships at Radford.
“I said to my team at the start of the tournament, I’ll shave my head if we win states,” said Aiona, a freshman.
Elijah Dinkel missed the Warriors’ first penalty kick of the shootout, but Everton Kuamoo, William Henderson and Poikeao Roback followed with conversions and Lucas Kay-Wong ended it with his shot down the middle.
For the Spartans, James Haynes, James Notarangelo and Duke Romanchak made their PKs. Patricio Santiago, the third shooter, hit the crossbar and Sierra Ryden, the last shooter, sent his attempt over the crossbar.
“I had confidence in my team. I knew my team would put away the PKs,” said Aiona, who added he’ll let the seniors shave his head.”I just had to focus on picking the right side and hopefully intimidate them and have them shank or I can stop it.”
Aiona said he tries to stare down the opposing shooters and never break eye contact.
Kamehameha-Hawaii’s only previous title came in 2018. The Warriors had to play seven games over 10 days at the end of the season because of rescheduling.
“Extremely proud of this group with everything we went through this year with COVID protocol shutdowns and games being rescheduled,” said Kamehameha-Hawaii coach Gene Okamura. “We figured out a way to make it happen.”
Seabury Hall (7-6) went up 1-0 in the 12th minute on a penalty kick by Haynes, whose shot down the middle was deflected by Aiona and went into the goal. The Spartans were awarded the penalty kick after Conor McCarthy was fouled just inside the penalty box as he dribbled to his right.
Kamehameha-Hawaii, the BIIF runner-up, tied it at 1-1 on an own goal at the 18-minute mark. Dinkel’s low corner kick from the right side was kicked in by the Spartans’ Santiago, who whiffed on a clear attempt and deflected the ball just under the crossbar.
“We created chances. We should have taken care of the ball and have the ball longer and really take advantage of the chances we created,” said Seabury Hall coach Ian Mork. “That’s what it comes down to, not so much that goal.”
The Warriors nearly took the lead in the 25th when Dinkel dribbled to his left and fired a left-footed shot that bent just wide right.
Kamehameha-Hawaii’s offense ran through Dinkel.
“Going into this season, we weren’t very strong skill-wise, but we started to work on that right off the bat,” said Dinkel, a junior.
A minute later, the Spartans nearly allowed a second own goal after the ball went off Esken Guarin’s head and to the left of goal.
There were fewer scoring opportunities in the second half with both teams struggling to get into a rhythm offensively. Kamehameha-Hawaii had two shots on goal, while Seabury Hall, the MIL representative, had one.
In the first overtime, Seabury Hall goalkeeper Trey Cerizo and Kamehameha-Hawaii’s Kay-Wong collided when both went after a free kick from Dinkel. Cerizo left the field, then came back in after the next stoppage of play.
In the first 10-minute golden-goal overtime period, the Spartans’ Haynes got through traffic down the middle, but had his shot smothered by Aiona in the 85th minute.
In the 90th, Seabury Hall ’s Romanchak went down in the box. The Spartans wanted a penalty kick, but it wasn’t given by the referee.
In the second overtime, the Warriors’ Dinkel hit a spinning 25-yard shot from the right side that hit off the crossbar.