LIHU‘E — Kailee Tamura had a hat trick and Pili Chung scored a goal to lead the Lihu‘e Gumdrops to a 4-2 edge over the Lihu‘e Purple Oranges, Thursday. The Gumdrops’ win advances it to the championship round against Waimea
LIHU‘E — Kailee Tamura had a hat trick and Pili Chung scored a goal to lead the Lihu‘e Gumdrops to a 4-2 edge over the Lihu‘e Purple Oranges, Thursday.
The Gumdrops’ win advances it to the championship round against Waimea Onipa‘a in the American Youth Soccer Organization, Region 940 Under 14 girls division.
Earlier, Onipa‘a defeated the Gumdrops in a playoff game 5-3 to advance to the championships while dropping the Gumdrops to face the Oranges.
Tamura fueled the Gumdrops’ first-half performance with a pair of goals, then Chung adding a goal that slipped off the wet gloves of the Purple Orange goalkeeper and rolled into the net for a 3-0 halftime lead.
Playing in a steady shower that blanketed the North Vidinha field for the playoff game, the Purple Oranges came out of the break and allowed another Tamura goal, her third.
But the greenshirted Oranges never gave up and behind the strong defensive efforts, were able to turn the ball upfield to give Kealoha control, feeding off to Stacy Ota for a goal that rolled between a Gumdrop defender and goalkeeper.
Joni Hashizume netted the final goal while Kawai Calderon, goalkeeping for the Oranges in the final period, kept shots from Tamura and Chung outside the net with several diving saves.
Prior to the Under 14 Girls championship fight, the Lihu‘e Strikers and the Lihu‘e Clovers will grapple for the Under 12 Girls title starting at 4 p.m., Monday at Hanapepe Stadium.
The AYSO, Region 940 Under 12 and Under 14 boys will battle for their respective titles on Tuesday. Games are 4:30 p.m. for the Under 12 boys and 6 p.m. for the Under 14 boys.
