LIHU‘E — The top-seeded teams from American Youth Soccer Organization Region 940 and Region 941 will meet today for the title of the Under 12 boys at the Will Veeck tournament. The Kalaheo Red Bulls poured on the firepower in
LIHU‘E — The top-seeded teams from American Youth Soccer Organization Region 940 and Region 941 will meet today for the title of the Under 12 boys at the Will Veeck tournament.
The Kalaheo Red Bulls poured on the firepower in the final five minutes to earn the berth opposite the 808 Heat in an all-Region 940 final in the Boys Under 14 division.
Playing under skies that turned threatening before unleashing their deluge, the boys waged their respective campaigns to earn the right to advance, Tuesday.
Caleb Neuman and Tanner Fredricksen netted goals in the first half as the Northshore Red Bulls took a 2-0 halftime lead over the Hanapepe Air Assault, the No. 2 seed from Region 940.
Despite valiant save attempts by goalkeeper A.J. Ort and strong ball movement by Chris Ishikawa and Isaiah Duldulao for Hanapepe, the Region 941 Red Bulls capitalized on their height and strength advantage to net their third goal by Fredricksen in the second half to ice the victory, the Northshore redshirts turning their attention to the battle waging less than 20 feet away.
S. Valin netted a goal midway through the first half to give the Region 941 Gladiators, the second-seeded team from that region, a 1-0 halftime lead that was answered shortly after the second half started when Trevor Freudig knotted up the contest with his goal.
Both teams fought a strong defensive battle headed by S. Franklin, W. Harrison and J. Deblin from the Gladiators. That effort was matched by the Cruisers’ Davin Garma, Jarran Takekuma and Tyren Kaneshige.
With the ball making cross-field trips, Kalaheo broke the 1-1 deadlock late in the game when Garma’s corner kick was headed in by Kaneshige for the go-ahead to advance against the top-seeded Northshore Red Bulls.
Marcus Brown netted five goals to lead the 808 Heat from Lihu‘e to their 5-2 win over the Region 941 Dominate in the first of two Under 14 boys matches.
Brown scored four first-half goals, while Keale Lee answered with one for Dominate’s 4-1 halftime deficit.
Tanner Franklin added a goal for Dominate in the second half that was answered by Brown’s fifth goal of the game.
The win by the No. 2 Region 941 win matches them against the Kalaheo Red Bulls, the top-seeded Region 941 team that sewed up its 5-1 win over the Region 941 Warriors.
Ben Smith scored two goals and Zack Lewis netted two goals in the win.
Opening in the constant wind-whipped downpour, the Red Bulls scored in the first five minutes when Justin Garma found the net from the right corner, the ball sailing high over Warrior goalkeeper Cody Palmer’s outstretched arms.
That 1-0 lead stood through halftime as the teams battled through the wind and rain that saw spectators huddled under umbrellas.
Leighton Cabreira answered the Warrior deficit with an early second-half goal and the 1-1 deadlock stayed as the rains took a break.
Smith netted a goal late in the second half for the 2-1 Kalaheo lead, but following two Warrior sojourns into Red Bull territory, the Kalaheo defense — anchored by Jared Okayama and Bradly Lumabao — sent the ball down the right wing where Smith got the better of the Warrior keeper in the final five minutes of play.
That uncorked the scoring as Lewis took a cross from Smith and a cross-field pass from Justin Pagtolingan iced the win against a tiring Warrior defense.
The Under 12 championship will start at 4:30 p.m. followed by the Under 14 champiopnship rolling around 6:15 p.m. at the Vidinha Stadium.
