The Mililani Trojans from the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association finished with a 3-1 record following a marathon day of soccer, Saturday. Arriving on an early flight, the Trojans matched up against four Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys teams at two locations before
The Mililani Trojans from the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association finished with a 3-1 record following a marathon day of soccer, Saturday.
Arriving on an early flight, the Trojans matched up against four Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys teams at two locations before departing on a 9 p.m. flight, Saturday.
Against Island, Mililani chalked up a 2-2 tie before rolling to a 3-1 win over Kapa‘a, a 2-1 edge over Kaua‘i and another 1-0 edge over Waimea. The Island and Kapa‘a games were played at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium while Kaua‘i and Waimea met the Trojans at Hanapepe Stadium.
Michael Champerlain put Island on the boards early, scoring in the sixth minute for the 1-0 halftime bulge. Chamberlain lit up the boards again in the 51st minute for a 2-0 bulge before Mililani got into action with two goals in the last 15 minutes of play for the tie.
Renato Torquato netted his goal in the 75th minute followed five minutes later when Cameron Metz found the goal.
A Kapa‘a own goal put Mililani up 1-0 at the half in a game dominated by Trojan control on the field, the Warriors being limited to less than five offensive forays into Mililani territory, but the Kapa‘a defense keeping the tenacious Trojan offense at bay before the ball dribbled into the goal in heavy traffic at the goalmouth midway through the half.
John Cunningham netted goals at the 49th and 59th minute to ice the win.
Kapa‘a got strong performances from its midfielder Kanoa Nartatez and Taylor Langstaff, but could not overcome the tough Trojan defense while on the other side of the ball, Calvin Rux was tough on defense on the wing and Hudson Hunter making good transitions on the leftside.
Metz and Cunningham continued to stoke the Trojan scoring, netting goals at the 41st and 59th minutes, respectively against Kaua‘i High School at Hanapepe Stadium.
Those goals broke a 0-0 halftime deadlock and a goal by Keenan Wood at the 72nd minute prevented a shutout.
Another 0-0 halftime deadlock was broken when Ryan Yoneda scored in the 50th minute to give Mililani its third win of the series.
In the first half defensive slugfest, Waimea goalkeeper Beau Acoba did a good job of keeping the Trojan offense from scoring with numerous saves and solid punts to position the ball for the Menehune offense.
Key to the Mililani series was its midfielder Ryan Akiu who transitioned the ball well, setting up shots for the Trojan forwards and stopping the ball at midfield, vocalizing to his team mates through the process.
The KIF soccer season starts Wednesday when Kapa‘a travels to Vidinha Stadium against Kaua‘i starting at 4:30 p.m. At the same time, the Waimea boys travel to Island School to meet the Island boys in a single game starting at 4:30 p.m.
The Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i junior varsity games will be played at Vidinha Stadium on Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfuji-moto@kauaipubco.com.
