HANAPEPE — A Golden Goal in overtime forced a playoff for tomorrow, and a hat trick combined with full-depth performance to earn a title Tuesday night at Hanapepe Stadium. Kaina Dusenberry netted the Golden Goal just about five minutes into
HANAPEPE — A Golden Goal in overtime forced a playoff for tomorrow, and a hat trick combined with full-depth performance to earn a title Tuesday night at Hanapepe Stadium.
Kaina Dusenberry netted the Golden Goal just about five minutes into the first overtime to give the Waimea U14 boys a 2-1 win over Kalaheo to force the playoff, and Charleen Miguel netted the hat trick to give Waimea U14 girls a 5-2 win for the AYSO Region 940 Girls Under 14 title.
Caleb Licke found the net first to give Kalaheo a 1-0 lead only to have Erik Siles fire off a tying 1-1 goal.
Both goals came in the first half, and despite Kalaheo trying to gain the edge in the defensive struggle, the contest ended in a deadlock to force the overtime period.
Kalaheo ended the regulation in control of the ball, but things turned around in the overtime as the Waimea blueshirts took control and on the fourth shot-on-goal, Dusenberry followed through for the tie-breaker.
“Waimea is such a big team that it’s hard to get everyone on the field during regulation,” William Trugillo, coach of the Waimea Onipa‘a girls team said as he waited for his team’s chance on the field. “But in overtime, you pull all the stops and can put your best guys on the field. It all comes down to coaching.”
Bob French announced the playoff for the title in the Boys Under 14 division will take place starting at 4 p.m. Friday at Hanapepe Stadium.
Miguel, who will be winging to Maui as an alternate for the Waimea High School cross country team, was dogged all night by Haley Cristobal of the Hanapepe Westside.
Despite the pressure, the Menehune freshman first found the net 11 minutes into the game, taking her shot from the left pocket about 15 yards out.
With less than a minute left in the first half, Miguel charged up the middle and fired past Hanapepe goalie Wendy Tokuuke to give Onipa‘a a 2-0 lead.
Kiana Soliven of Hanapepe took advantage of a lapse in the Onipa‘a defense to notch a Westside goal about 10 minutes into the second half.
Vakeesha Lagazo, playing one of three forward positions for Onipa‘a, entered the fray in the second half, taking an assist from Dijah Bostic’s full-field breakaway from the wing for a goal in traffic. That pulled Onipa‘a to a 3-1 lead.
But Hanapepe never faltered as Cristobal initiated several key Westside drives on take-aways from Miguel in Hanapepe territory.
On one of those defensive plugs, Cristobal passed to Soliven, open in the middle, and the forward closed the door with a straight shot past Onipa‘a goalie Paige Connelly.
The dogging between Miguel and Cristobal continued through most of the second half, and Miguel was able to win one late in the game and closed the door almost unchallenged at the goalmouth for the final goal that ignited the fans.
In addition to the offensive Miguel sparkplug, Waimea got strong showings from Lagazo who ended up with two goals. The third forward position was handled by Li‘a Shigematsu in the first half before Bostic took over in the second half, her performance earning her a cheer from grandma in the stands, “I’ll do your dishes, tonight!”
Onipa‘a defense was led by midfielder Ember Teter, who despite her small stature, was able to control the ball for Waimea throughout most of the first half.
Both the Hanapepe Westside, who came from the consolation bracket to give Waimea Onipa‘a a strong challenge in the finals, will be appearing in the Wil Veech soccer tournament which starts next week at Vidinha Stadium.
That tournament will feature the top teams from both AYSO Region 940 and AYSO Region 941.
