With a finely tuned passing attack and a rock-solid defense, Kalaheo wrapped up the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II girls soccer championship with a 2-0 blanking of Waialua on Saturday.
It didn’t take long for the Mustangs (7-4-1) to get started at the Kapolei field. In the second minute, midfielder Kai Mousser sent a high shot toward Bulldogs goalkeeper Mahealani Farrell, who misjudged the tempo and let the ball bounce over her head. Mustangs junior Sienna DeCosta sprinted in and knocked the ball home for a quick 1-0 lead.
“We want to keep this feel-good spirit going,” Kalaheo coach Jen Miles said after wrapping up the title. “I’m so proud of them and have so much faith in them. We usually play a game that looks cleaner than this and we talked about that at the half.”
Mia York, Kelsey McEwen and Emily Shon led the Mustangs’ shutdown defense in front of keeper Tierra Bush. They thwarted all of Waialua’s attacks, including some with heavy-duty pressure in the final 15 minutes.
DeCosta made the defensive play of the game for Kalaheo midway through the first half, sprinting toward the goal line to clear a ball that had eluded Bush.
Despite what DeCosta called a second-half letdown, Kalaheo’s passing was crisp throughout. Instead of panicking with pressure, the Mustangs had the presence of mind to play the ball back instead of forcing it forward and used plenty of give-and-go plays.
“We practice that (passing) heavily,” Miles said. “We like to put a lot of support on the ball and set up a nice triangle and sometimes a diamond.”
A smiling DeCosta made sure to mention that this is Kalaheo’s second OIA D-II title in three years. The first came when she was a freshman.
“This is a better feeling,” she said. “We are a closer team this time around. We could have played better. We’ll be giving it our all at (the upcoming) states and play better than today.”
In the 35th minute, Malia Wallace made it 2-0, picking up a loose ball in the left corner, taking a few dribbles and blasting a left-footed shot high into the far corner.
Those two goals for a 2-0 halftime lead put Waialua in a hole from which it did not recover.
In the final 15 minutes, the Bulldogs (4-7-1) amped it up and peppered the ball toward the Kalaheo goal, but several shots by Dalles Young-Toledo and one by Christel Agtina on a cross from Emma Knott were handled by the stout Mustangs defense.
“I thought we needed to push up the offense faster,” Bulldogs coach Tim Kawakahui said. “We were too slow and the ball was bouncing their (the Mustangs’) way. We were attacking, but their keeper is good. I told the girls to not look down. There’s some small things we’ll have to pick up and get better on before states.”
