KAPA‘A — Rachel Hinkel had a hat trick and the Kapa‘a JV boys came up with two second-half goals to sweep the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation junior varsity series, Thursday at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium. Kaua‘i JV girls, leading
KAPA‘A — Rachel Hinkel had a hat trick and the Kapa‘a JV boys came up with two second-half goals to sweep the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation junior varsity series, Thursday at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium.
Kaua‘i JV girls, leading the first round with a 3-1 standing, came back with two second-half goals from Alyssa “Malu” Vegas, but the effort came up short. With the loss, Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i finish in a tie for the lead in the JV girls division with identical 3-2 records.
“It was not nice,” Vegas said following the game. “We had our chances. We had many chances, but…”
Vegas anchored the Red Raider defense in the first half, but could not stop Hinkel’s speed as the right wing picked up her first goal in the fourth minute as Kaua‘i’s defense struggled to find its feet.
Hinkel’s second and third goals, coming in the 16th and 34th minute, respectively, came against goalkeeper Kawehi Louis-Diamond.
Switching Vegas to the forward position in the second half, Kaua‘i battled against the 3-0 deficit with Vegas opening the scorebooks early in the half on a penalty kick from the right side.
She followed that with her second goal on a feed from Tara Silverman in the 61st minute.
Hinkel was gone, sidelined with an injury, and the Kapa‘a defense, anchored by Mia Cabulisan, going one-on-one with Vegas, Taybree Souza and Victoria Terrazas kept Kaua‘i on the outside.
The Kaua‘i JV boys, entering Round 2 with an 0-4 record against Kapa‘a (2-1-1), played one of its best games of the season despite dropping 2-0 to Kapa‘a.
“We made some mistakes and they capitalized on it,” said Kaua‘i coach Kevin Celebrado. “But the boys played well.”
Kaua‘i goalkeeper Justus Bieber did an excellent job stopping Kapa‘a shot attempts as the first half closed with each team scoreless.
“He came home from practice one day and said, ‘I got it!’” said Justus’s dad, Rolf, who came just in time to watch Justus make a save late in the first half. “He said, ‘I got a good coach and I discovered something in practice.’”
That worked through most of the first half, but in the second half, following a save, Bieber inadvertently came out of the box on the punt to set up Kapa‘a’s first goal, coming off Brandon Napiorkowski’s foot on a second effort in the 49th minute.
Fans approved of the improvement in Red Raider boys play as they cheered the teamwork which kept Kapa‘a passing the ball, looking for the sure shot.
Justin Medina iced the win in the 57th minute.
Kaua‘i will host Waimea Saturday with the girls squaring off starting at 10 a.m. The varsity squads match up starting at 1:30 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
