The ‘Iolani boys soccer team on Monday got a huge leg up in the race for the ILH title.
Brody Awaya headed in a cross from Asa Hironaka in the 55th minute, and Hironaka scored the go-ahead goal off an assist from Anthony Ancheta in the 71st as ‘Iolani beat host Kamehameha 2-1.
“I’m glad how they responded to the adversity of the game. We haven’t had a close game like this in a while,” said ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee, whose team had outscored its previous five opponents 26-2.
The Raiders (8-0-1, 25 points) took sole possession of the top spot in the standings over the Warriors (7-1-1, 22 points) with the final day of the regular season set for Thursday.
‘Iolani will host Punahou (4-4-0, 12 points) and Kamehameha will host Mid-Pacific (1-6-1, 4 points). The Raiders would need at least a tie to win the ILH crown. The best Kamehameha could hope for is a playoff for the title, which would take a victory over Mid-Pacific and a Punahou win over ‘Iolani.
“Punahou’s not going to give us anything, so they’re going to come out and try to win. We need to be ready to play our game again,” Lee said.
The potential playoff would be held next Monday.
‘Iolani and Kamehameha tied 1-1 on Dec. 16.
The Warriors and Raiders had already secured the ILH’s two berths in the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Championships, which start Feb. 3. The league champion will be seeded and receive a first-round bye at the 12-team tournament. Kamehameha will be making its first state tournament appearance since 2011, while ‘Iolani has qualified for the past eight tournaments.
The Raiders went ahead late when Ancheta sent a lead pass to Hironaka, who knocked it past Warriors goalkeeper Kama Medeiros.
“(Ancheta) played a good ball between the outside back and the center back,” Hironaka said. “Honestly, I thought the keeper was going to come out and beat me to the ball, so luckily I got a touch on the ball and pushed it past him.”
Kamehameha tied it at 1-1 on a mistake by ‘Iolani’s backline.
Devin Lee sent a weak back pass toward Raiders goalkeeper Brayden Obrero, and the Warriors’ Kaena Aoki snuck in between the two and found the back of the net in the 66th.
“When you want to play balls in the back and try and build up, sometimes those things will happen,” coach Lee said.
‘Iolani went up 1-0 in the 55th when Hironaka controlled the ball on the left side and sent a perfect cross to a wide-open Awaya.
“We were knocking (on the door) pretty much the entire game and going into the second half I thought we had a lot of momentum coming out,” Awaya said. “I got a good ball that was played to me and I just put it in the back of the net.”
The Raiders got the better of play in the first half.
In the 11th minute, ‘Iolani’s Hironaka sent a pass to Awaya, who took a couple of touches on the left side and fired a shot that Medeiros had to dive to his left to stop.
Five minutes later, Ancheta approached the goal on the right side and slotted a pass to the far post that just missed a streaking Awaya.
With about 10 seconds to go before halftime, ‘Iolani’s Ancheta blasted a shot from 12 yards out that went just wide left of the goal.
The Warriors’ best scoring opportunity came in the first minute when Madden Aquino sent a chip from distance over Obrero and wide left of the goal.
In the 44th, the Raiders’ Devin Lee sent a corner kick from the left side to Awaya, whose twisting header was headed off the goal line by Kamehameha’s Kaleb Santos.
In the 62nd, the Raiders’ Chase Yamashita sent a left-footed shot off the left post.
Le Jardin 3, Pac-Five 2
The Bulldogs’ Maxton Molzhon took over in the final three minutes against the Wolf Pack.
Molzhon tied the game with an amazing volley off a free kick in the 76th, and scored the go-ahead goal in the 78th off an assist from Kalei Soares for Le Jardin (5-3-1, 16 points).
Pac-Five (3-5-1, 10 points) led 2-0 with about 15 minutes remaining.
