The Pearl City girls soccer team definitely knows "diddly."
Kylie Louis broke the ice in the 10th minute and Cailla Fabro and Kailee Eli punched in insurance goals in the 52nd and 53rd minutes as the Chargers beat Kahuku 3-0 in an elimination game at Aiea.
Pearl City (7-4) pressured Kahuku in the first 10 minutes and it paid off when Louis faked a shot and flicked a ball past a defender and beat her to the corner. Then, from just outside the box, she rolled a ball that never left the ground and seemed to travel to the goal in slow motion.
Kahuku failed to get back and clear it and the ball rolled into the goal off prone Kahuku keeper Carrie Kamakaala’s fingertips. It wasn’t even supposed to be a shot, but the slow curveball certainly scored.
"It went in," Louis said. "I was kind of late because I heard my coach yelling to get up and I ran up. My coach tells me not to aim because I don’t know how to aim."
It was just the fullback’s second goal this season, but no goal has been more important to the Chargers’ season.
"She can’t aim for diddly-squat," Pearl City coach Frank Baumholtz III said. "You watch her in warm-ups and she can’t put it in from the 6-yard line, but that early goal really helped. It was a beautiful effort and it cut (Kahuku’s) confidence down."
Louis was one of six freshmen and sophomores starting for the Chargers, who move on to play West champion Campbell in Ewa in the second round today. Pearl City led the Sabers up until the last four minutes in their regular-season clash but lost in a shootout.
Kahuku’s season ends at 8-3. The Red Raiders will miss the state tournament after making it last year. Kahuku had three shots in the second half, but none of them threatened Pearl City keeper Ariela Bali. It was Pearl City’s fifth shutout this year and the Chargers haven’t allowed more than one goal in regulation since before Christmas.
"We would have liked to play better today," Kahuku coach Glenn Fujita said. "If you want to beat a quality side like that, you have to bring your best game and we really didn’t. We are happy with our season and proud of the seniors."
While the Red Raiders were trying to string together successive state tournament appearances, Pearl City is a regular at the big dance. The Chargers have to win one of their next two games to clinch their 30th straight tournament appearance. That streak predates even Baumholtz, who started at the school in 1988 and became co-head coach with Tracee Kono in 2002.
Mililani holds the next-longest active streak at 15.
"We’ve always been really close," Baumholtz said. "All year long we have been one goal short except we got blown out by Mililani. If we play our game, we can beat Campbell. They are very good and they will be fresh, but we just have to play the whole game."
Aiea 1, Roosevelt 0, PK
Cierra Hamilton converted Aiea’s fifth penalty kick and keeper Kanoe Grier-Kadokawa followed with a save as Na Alii survived a physical contest that went two overtimes and penalty kicks.
Aiea (9-2) moves on to play Castle today at Campbell. Roosevelt’s season ends at 6-5 despite holding Aiea out of the goal and losing its keeper to a knee injury in the second overtime. She was one of three different Rough Riders to leave the game in the overtimes, where there were two fouls called.
Mililani 4, Kailua 0
Cassandra Stetser scored two goals and Tia Furuta and Alyssa Stiles had one each to help the Trojans advance. Mililani will play at Kaiser tonight at 6:30. Kailua’s season is over.
Moanalua 2, Waianae 1, PK
Haley Graham scored in regulation for Na Menehune, who play Kapolei at Kaiser today at 5 p.m. Sarah Inafuku notched the lone goal for the Seariders, but Moanalua won on penalty kicks 4-2 after two overtimes.
OIA WHITE
Radford 4, Farrington 0
Nia Thomas, Mackenzie Martin, Ginny Smith and Kourtine Jury-Hale scored goals to help the Rams advance. Radford plays Kalaheo at 5 p.m. today at Leilehua. The Governors’ season is over.
Nanakuli 3, McKinley 1
Jayna-Ann Santiago, Ana Rubtcova and Ella Kativa each scored a goal to lift the Golden Hawks to a semifinal match against host Leilehua at 6:30 tonight. Krystel Chun scored for the Tigers, whose season ended.
