‘Iolani’s Kaisen Nakagawa wasn’t about to let history repeat itself.

Nearly two months after losing the ILH junior varsity championship in a shootout against host Punahou, Nakagawa found himself in the same spot with more on the line Tuesday evening at Alexander Field.

Called up to varsity after the end of the JV season, Nakagawa was in goal for another shootout against the Buffanblu and this time came up with two huge saves to give the Raiders a 4-1 win in penalty kicks to claim the ILH boys soccer title with a 2-1 victory.

“I wanted to prove to Punahou I could step up to the plate and eventually beat them,” said Nakagawa, a junior. “I’m very grateful to get an opportunity with the varsity team. Before the shootout I said a little prayer to myself and I vowed to myself I would never lose to Punahou in a penalty shootout again.”

‘Iolani won its third ILH boys soccer title in four years with its first win over defending state champion Punahou in three tries.

The Buffanblu beat the Raiders 2-0 on Dec. 14 and the teams played to a 2-2 tie two weeks ago.

They finished the regular season tied for first at 9-1-2 to force a playoff for the overall title. ‘Iolani will receive the first-round bye in the upcoming state soccer tournament and avoids playing a Monday first-round game.

“They showed a lot of grit to pull it off at the end,” ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee said. “It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest game —the conditions were tough with the wind and the turf — but we were fortunate. Both teams are so familiar with each other it’s going to come down to the execution.”

The game played out like a movie script for ‘Iolani, which last won a state title in 2013.

Punahou took a 1-0 lead three minutes into the second half on a goal by Noah Williams.

Each team had only one shot on goal in the first half and scoring chances were limited, with both teams clearly familiar with the other.

Time was running out when ‘Iolani played a ball into the box from roughly 50 yards out. The ball bounced in front of a gathering of players, including Punahou goalkeeper Ian Withy-Berry, and took a large bounce.

It ended up on the head of ‘Iolani’s Keanu Srivongsana, who calmly directed it into the open net with a minute remaining in regulation to force overtime.

Nakagawa entered the game in goal for ‘Iolani in the second half and stopped two tough shots in the overtime periods to set up the shootout.

The Raiders made all four of their penalty kicks and Nakagawa stopped the first two shots he faced and nearly had a third that deflected off of his body and rolled into the net with a strong wind blowing directly in his face.

“I was just guessing, actually,” Nakagawa said. “I just kind of reacted to the ball.”

‘Iolani has three senior goalkeepers on its roster but went with the junior varsity call-up when it mattered the most.

“He’s filled in during the course of the regular season also,” Lee said. “He got into a shootout with (Punahou) at the end of the JV season, so he had some practice already.”

Tanner Shimomoto, Tyler Ebisuya and Lincoln Oishi made penalty kicks in the shootout to put ‘Iolani ahead 3-1 and Alex Liu clinched it to start the celebration.

Sotaro Abe was the only Buffanblu to convert a penalty kick in the shootout.

Duncan McKenna assisted on Punahou’s goal in the second half when he chased down a goal kick that bounced three-quarters of the way down the field before finding Williams on the cross for the goal.

‘Iolani’s goal in the 79th minute was just the seventh goal the Buffanblu allowed in 13 games this season.