King Kekaulike is going to the title game. Finally.
Na Alii dispatched Pearl City 2-0 on Friday night in the Division I semifinals of The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships.
Tonight, a bigger task awaits. The third-seeded MIL champions get the prize of facing top-seeded ILH champion Kamehameha, which is going for its second straight crown.
After a scoreless first half, Na Alii (11-0-1) started to put the pedal down. Pearl City’s drives in space got fewer and fewer. King Kekaulike, meanwhile, began finding some room.
>> PHOTOS: Pearl City vs. King Kekaulike
The breakthrough came in the 65th minute, when Leiala Aruda powered through the Chargers defense and beat goalkeeper Jo-Zayah Iriarte.
It didn’t take long for Na Alii to strike again. Eight minutes later, Teani Arakawa threaded the needle with a lead pass to Madelyn Dougherty, who found the back of the net to make it 2-0 to all but seal the victory.
A year ago, King Kekaulike advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history before being eliminated by Kamehameha 6-0.
Na Alii will take another shot at the Warriors tonight.
“Our ladies have that one more game in mind,” Na Alii coach Gundi Dancil said. “When we played them last year, we were a young team with one senior. This is pretty much the same team that played in that game last year.”
On Friday night, King Kekaulike shocked previously undefeated Punahou 1-0 with a penalty kick in the 79the minute for a 1-0 semifinal win.
They’re counting on the magic to continue.
“This year, we worked really hard to make it to where we are in finals,” Arakawa said. “Tonight, we found our passes and looked for our opportunities and finally found the pocket and finished those chances. Against Kamehameha, we’ll be focusing on passing and possessing the ball, trying to work it up for opportunities and push harder than we did last year.”
For Pearl City (12-4-1), the fifth-place team out of the OIA, the run to a possible sixth state D-I title is over.
Soraya Santos nearly put the Chargers up early on, but her breakaway attempt was foiled. King Kekaulike also nearly struck in the early going, but Aruda’s heavy-duty shot was stopped by a diving Iriarte, and a little later, Arakawa’s shot after a push down the right wing hit the post.
“They outplayed us in the last 20 minutes of the game,” Chargers coach Frank Baumholtz III said. “It comes down to fundamentals. When the pressure is on, we gotta do what we do in practice. If you don’t, you end up losing. We just got outplayed, period.”
