Three Ventura teams win championships

PUHI — Sanoe Souza had two goals, and Laurelle Rosare added two more as the Blue Dolphins U14 girls, top seeded in the U14/16 division, blanked KSC-A, 7-0 to become the only Kaua‘i team to take a championship in the 2004 Kaua‘i Cup that wrapped up Sunday at the Island School soccer complex.

Losing little time, Souza struck early on a return of a goal kick up the middle and followed that early strike with her second goal from close to mid-field, the shot zipping past two KSC defenders and the outstretched arms of goalie Maegan Pablo before nestling in the left pocket.

Rosare got her chance on the third score that came from a rightside pass before Rosare fired from up the middle.

Jaezelle Balilea closed off the half from the right-middle after receiving a pass from the leftside for the 4-0 halftime read.

Jamielee Jimenez got two chances for a shot-on-goal, and it was her second one that struck gold, the shot sailing over the goalie’s jump. “It was supposed to be a pass,” Jimenez chuckled afterwards.

Rosare finished a corner kick from the leftside for the sixth notch, and Kristen Shim got the final score late in the second half, one parent noting that it was unlike Shim to finish with just one goal.

On Saturday morning, the Blue Dolphins battled to a 2-2 deadlock enroute to their championship matchup, one grandparent saying, “They (Blue Dolphins) had back-to-back games and were tired.”

The KSC-A team, too, battling two games a day since Friday, were working sans eight or nine of their starters who were at ODP, and on Friday, had a bench of one.

Earlier in the morning, a Motiv8 miscue in overtime saw the top seeded U12 team succumb to the third seeded Ventura Vipers, 2-1.

Referee Clifton Sato noted that Motiv8 played well on both sides of the ball, but sometimes, that’s the way it ends, the Vipers defense led by sweeper Taylor Cooper doing a superb job of keeping the smaller Motiv8 strikers at bay.

Guest player Ben Snyder of O‘ahu broke the 0-0 stalemate with six minutes left in the opening half, striking from inside traffic.

Kyson Carrillo answered for Motiv8 in the first ten minutes of the second half as he headed in a corner kick for the score, the ball soaring across the goal mouth before Carrillo headed it in for the 1-1 tie that stood at the end of regulation play.

Defensive play from both sides dominated the overtime, and with about a minute left in the first OT, Motiv8 goalie Joe Enrique was poised to make a save of a Viper shot, his hands open for the save.

But, between the shot and Enrique, a defender deflected the ball which sailed past Enrique, glanced off the goal post and sank in the net folds for the Viper victory.

Third seed Ventura got to the finals by shutting out the second seeded Windard, 4-0 late Saturday afternoon.

In the U10 competition, the Ventura Vipers nudged Mililani, 1-0 for that tile while the Vipers’ U14 boys blanked El Toro, 6-0 for that title.