LIHU‘E — Brettni Kerr of the Hilo Vikings was key in the scoring of both of its matches on Kaua‘i. Brettni faked out Kaua‘i defender Saryna Garcia to score in the 15th minute, Friday night at Vidinha Stadium, and authored
LIHU‘E — Brettni Kerr of the Hilo Vikings was key in the scoring of both of its matches on Kaua‘i.
Brettni faked out Kaua‘i defender Saryna Garcia to score in the 15th minute, Friday night at Vidinha Stadium, and authored a corner kick that resulted in a goal when Shina Chung closed the door in the 17th minute against Waimea, Saturday. She found the net for her own goal in the second half.
Thea teams managed to fit both games into weather windows that allowed theme to be played in their entirety.
However, the final Hilo game was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., Saturday at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium, but heavy rain forced the match to be postponed to 10 a.m. today at Vidinha Stadium, said Kapa‘a athletic director Greg Gonsalves.
During the Friday night encounter that was punctuated with lightning, Hilo battled Kaua‘i to a 1-1 deadlock before getting past Waimea, 4-0 Saturday, at the Waimea Canyon Park.
Hilo was in town for a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation pre-season series against Kaua‘i, Waimea, and Kapa‘a high schools over the weekend.
Despite getting the first goal, the Vikings, against Kaua‘i, were being beat to the ball and had problems getting passes off against the Red Raider defense spearheaded by returning player Saryna Garcia, who exchanged her goalkeeper outfit for that of defender.
“She’s really fast out there,” said Ross Shimabukuro, Kaua‘i athletic director. “Her sister, Amber Thronas, was also a really good soccer player.”
Shimabukuro said it was really good that Matt Victor, the Kaua‘i coach, played his whole bench during the pre-season encounter.
Garcia, who already showed her athletic prowess as a back row specialist for the Kaua‘i girls volleyball team, consistently swept the field and played strong defense, effectively keeping the ball away from Jordan Zeffiro, the Kaua‘i goalie in the first half.
Midfield play was handled effectively by Kylie Taniguchi, another returning player who punctuated the 2008-09 season with booming kicks from midfield.
Teal Basquez headed up the frontline, joining Malia Kagawa, who tied the game on a penalty kick in the 34th minute.
Hilo’s Shina Chung closed the door on a Brettni corner kick to open the scorebooks, Saturday under blue skies and fleecy white clouds.
Waimea had several opportunities to score, but came up empty, its closest opportunity coming off a corner kick where the Menehune got two touches, but the ball settled on top of the net.
Jayme Jacinto handled the goalkeeping duties well, getting help from defenders Ember Teter and Amber Fujimoto in the first half. Charleen Miguel and Kuuleinani Breen had their touches in getting the ball to the front before being stopped by the Hilo defense.
Jacinto played briefly in the forward position in the second half with Vakeesha Lagazo taking over at midfield and cross country standout Natasha Abadilla having her touches on defense. In the absence of its head coach, William Trigillo, the Menehune did their own platoon changes throughout the game.
“Having Charleen and Jayme in the forward positions is good because they play off each other,” said Dan Agan, former coach for Waimea and an assistant referee at Saturday’s game. “But a lot of these players are JV, so we’ll see how everything comes together.”
Brettni found her own goal on a long shot from the outside in the 42nd minute to open the second half. That goal was followed by Taylor Pacheco finding the net on a rebound play after Claire Uyetake’s shot-on-goal was blocked.
With the clock running down, Hilo’s final goal came on a Tiffany Kerr penalty kick.
