Kaua‘i High’s boys defeated Waimea 4-1 yesterday at Vidinha Stadium, on the strenght of two Pono Matthews scores. Matthews beat Waimea’s Kalen Fleming to the ball for an early score and an early lead, but it didn’t hold up for
Kaua‘i High’s boys defeated Waimea 4-1 yesterday at Vidinha Stadium, on the strenght of two Pono Matthews scores.
Matthews beat Waimea’s Kalen Fleming to the ball for an early score and an early lead, but it didn’t hold up for long.
At seven games into the season, Waimea had perhaps its best chance to score its first goal of the year. A jumbled mess in the box in front of Kaua‘i’s goal led to a Ryan Guzman a penalty kick.
“I was just thinking that I had to make it,” he said. “We needed a point.”
Goalkeeper Kainoa Lemke dove left as Guzman ksent the ball straight into the opposite corner, sending his teammates into a much-needed celebration.
“I felt so relieved,” Guzman said.
Head coach Ken Morikawa was enthused.
“We had a chance to win or tie it up,” he said. “We played pretty much the way we wanted to play. I’m happy with it.”
With the game tied at one and minutes until the end of the first half, Kaua‘i’s Seth Quisel put the Red Raiders ahead.
During the break, Matthews and the team decided they were going to get serious.
“We were saying we better get our heads in the game and play,” Matthews said.
Get in the game he did. In “Bend It Like Beckham”-style, Matthews curved a shot in for another goal.
A final jumble in the box made it hard to figure out who scored Kaua‘i’s final goal. The ball crossed the plane off Gerry Rayray’s foot, but without a whistle, play continued. Tyler Yee put the finishing touch on it soon after. The official scoring was corrected to give Rayray credit.
“What I liked about the game is how we rebounded in the second half,” said Kaua‘i head coach Mark Brandeburg. “But I was very happy to see Waimea get on the board.”
The Waimea girls also got on the boards yesterday, but still fell to Kaua‘i 6-1.
In a fast-paced first half, Kaua‘i scored four goals in the span of a few minutes.
“It felt nice to actually score,” said Auika Muragin, who headed in a pass from Ashlyn Ubongen. Muragin had primarily been playing defense with a fractured elbow.
Natasha Pigao and Ubongen scored, then Courtney Wilson put a long shot from way out right into the opposite corner for a four-goal lead.
Then came the highlight of the night for Waimea.
With one defender on, Waimea’s Kiare Alejandro dodged her way into a one-on-one situation with Kaua‘i goalie Savannah Rollins. Alejandro aimed for the right corner and drilled it.
“I was excited,” she said. “I just had to get it in. That’s all that was going through my head. Just get it in.”
According to Waimea head coach Dan Agan, that’s all that the team set out to do.
“We wanted to come out and score. It was a victory for them,” he said.
Kaua‘i, however, wasn’t finished. Katie Anderson and Tiffany Ikeda-Simao tacked on insurance goals.
Both Kaua‘i teams now have a week to think about this Saturday’s big showdown with KIF-leading Kapa‘a.
“This one was more of a practice for us so we could work on things we needed to,” said Muragin. “We needed to strengthen our skills and our pressuring. It was a good game to make sure we were really on it.”
Waimea plays Kapa‘a Wednesday at Vidinha Stadium at 4 p.m.
• Lanaly Cabalo, lifestyle writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com.
