Finding soccer balls instead of eggs

Over Easter Weekend several of Region 941 East Kaua‘i coaches took select teams to play in the AYSO Kirk Banks Tournament on O‘ahu.

The first registration session will be coming up this April 22 for the 2005 season.

April 22 and May 13 at Kapa‘a Middle School and Kilauea Neighborhood Center from 5-7 p.m. and again on May 6 and 7 at St. Catherine’s Carnival in Kapa‘a. Call 823-9018 for more information.

Coach Sonny Kaona: U12 Girls

As for my team, we were down to 9 players before the tourney started because one of my players, Sunny Ohlen, fractured her arm on Saturday in a HYSA game prior to us leaving.

Then at the beginning of our first game vs. Diamond Head, another player, Priscilla Lutz, severely sprained her ankle, but to her credit, limped on the field and played throughout the tourney.

We beat Diamond Head 1-0 with Kaulana Haneberg scoring. Our next game was vs. N. Hawai‘i, who we tied 2-2 with Katelyn Kaona and Alana Andrews scoring.

Our third game in our pool was vs. A‘iea, who we beat 1-0 with Kaulana scoring, which gave us a record of 2-0-1, but we lost first place in our pool to N. Hawai‘i because they scored more goals. On Saturday we played Kona in our first round playoff game, and ended up tied 1-1 with Katelyn scoring.

We then went to penalty kicks, with Alana, Kailee Carrillo, and Katelyn scoring to lead us to a 3-1 advantage and the victory. We then found out we would be playing the other E. Kaua‘i team in the semifinals, and we held them down until about 3 minutes left when they scored 2 goals to beat us 2-0.

I have to give my team alot of credit for being short handed with no subs, having to play every minute of every game, and even having one girl at half speed because of an injury.

If I had to give an MVP to a player on my team, I would have to give it to my whole team because to see them play with their heart and desire, I couldn’t single out any one player.