LIHU‘E — The American Youth Soccer Organization Region 940 took the Under 12 and Under 14 girls divisions at the finals of the girls matches, Wednesday at the Will Veeck soccer tournament. Jacelyn Perreira netted a goal in each of
LIHU‘E — The American Youth Soccer Organization Region 940 took the Under 12 and Under 14 girls divisions at the finals of the girls matches, Wednesday at the Will Veeck soccer tournament.
Jacelyn Perreira netted a goal in each of the halves and Kristin Kawamura iced the Lihu‘e Strikers’ 3-0 win over the Kilauea Green Flash of Region 941 to earn the Under 12 girls championship.
A late goal by Jordyn Fune, combined with an early goal by Nikki Acoba, gave the Waimea Onipa‘a the Under 14 girls title with their 2-0 edge over the Lihu‘e Gumdrops.
“This is the first medal I’ve gotten in 10 years,” Gumdrops assistant coach Ace Reuarin told his girls who battled hard against the Waimea team. “And, I’m not that old.”
With both teams playing strong defense, Acoba fielded a throw in and boomed the ball past Gumdrops’ goalkeeper Rhiana Ralston for the score with about five minutes remaining in the half.
More tough defense dominated the game before Fune found the net on a long shot that rocketed past Ralston with about 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
Throughout the game, Ralston and Onipa‘a goalkeeper Sondra Jacinto were challenged as shots peppered the net.
Pili Chung, playing strong for the Gumdrops, led the lavendar-shirted offense while Khaya Bunao was solid in the Lihu‘e defense.
Onipa‘a started out relying on the combination of Tierra Teter and Marissa Ruiz anchoring its offense with Bailey San-Agustin-Nordmeier flying across the field as the stopper.
One team parent noted that with these tournament wins, Onipa‘a remains undefeated in the 2009 AYSO season.
Following a defensive exchange through the first half, Perreira opened the scorebooks on the final play before halftime. Her high-arcing shot sailed over Kilauea goalkeeper Anuhea Huddy’s save attempt for the 1-0 Striker lead.
Reinforced by the halftime goal, the Strikers came out strong, utilizing their speed to beat Kilauea to the ball and controlling the game.
That sent the Green Flash into a defensive mode as the greenshirts swarmed the ball in frustration, the defensive effort being led by Kari Jedd, Elise McDonald, Ruby Hawthorne and Natalie Devin.
“I was pinching until the first goal,” said Lihu‘e coach Clyde Caires. “But it wasn’t over. Only after we got our third goal, I could breathe. Jacelyn scored only one goal, our first game, the whole season. She only started scoring during the playoffs and the Will Veeck.”
Susan Caires, whose son Clyde is the coach, said this was a nice way for her to return to coaching.
“When I was coaching my son in Kalaheo, we broke tradition by beating Kilauea,” Susan said. “That was a long time ago, and we’ve been to Vidinha and the Will Veeck many times. This is Clyde’s first time at the Veeck and he was nervous as heck.”
Susan said it was nice to see the girls perform on all the things they have attempted to teach them throughout the season.
“They used everything we taught them, tonight,” Susan said. “They played well.”
