KAPA‘A — An own goal and a booming Taylor Langstaff free kick preserved the Kapa‘a High School boys’ undefeated record, Wednesday night at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium. Lily Fredericksen finished with a hat trick to lead the Kapa‘a
KAPA‘A — An own goal and a booming Taylor Langstaff free kick preserved the Kapa‘a High School boys’ undefeated record, Wednesday night at the New Kapa‘a Town Park stadium.
Lily Fredericksen finished with a hat trick to lead the Kapa‘a women to a 6-0 win over a hard-fighting Waimea squad, while over at Vidinha Stadium, Chaturon Promsakhan scored the sole goal for the Kaua‘i High School boys in its 1-0 edge over Island School.
The Warriors’ Calvin Rux broke open on the left wing and closed the drive with a cross to Max Goode charging in from the right wing.
Goode’s foot found the ball, but a Menehune defender between Goode and the goalmouth grazed the ball to open the scorebooks in the first 10 minutes of play in the boys finale.
A defensive slugfest ensued with the action centering at midfield where ball exchanges took place throughout the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation soccer matches.
“It’s going to come down to mistakes,” said one of the spectators reveling in the intense exchanges.
Kapa‘a tried to gain an edge midway through the first half when coach Kevin Cram did a battalion substitution of four new pairs of fresh legs.
But the Menehune defense and midfield would not relent and the battle continued until the 56th minute when Taylor Langstaff set the ball for a free kick from about 30 yards out.
That shot soared over the defenders and just above the outstretched arms of Waimea goalkeeper Beau Acoba who peppered his forces with encouragement and advice throughout the evening.
Shane Nishioka-Healy, the Kapa‘a goalkeeper, was also given his share of work, stopping strong charges by the Menehune forwards in both halves.
But the hardest working goalkeeper had to be Waimea’s Alanna Fernandez who, returning to the field following an injury in an earlier game, was peppered by Kapa‘a shots throughtout the game.
During the second half, the Warrior wahine picked up the pace on its 2-0 halftime lead to keep the ball on the Waimea side of the field, pounding Fernandez with shots and blasts from the vuvuzela symphonics to the point where she uttered a comment about the horns, her still-healing injury adding to the frustration.
Raquelle Matayoshi, on the other side of the field for Kapa‘a, was limited to just one save in the half.
Fredericksen, picking up goals in the second and seventh minutes to announce the Warrior wahine, got her hat trick in the 77th minute, the second in a flurry of three goals in two minutes.
Rachel Hinkel found the net in the 52nd minute and Taetra Christiansen opened the late-game scoring flurry in the 75th minute before being moved to defender status.
Laurie Tamayo’s goal in the 79th minute sparked fan response to her evening of constantly working the ball along the left wing.
The KIF girls season ends Saturday when Kaua‘i hosts Waimea with the JV girls taking the field starting at 10 a.m. followed by the boys at 11:45 a.m. The varsity girls take the field starting at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys starting at 3:30 p.m.
Kapa‘a’s varsity boys take on Island School at the Puhi campus starting at 10 a.m. followed by the Warrior JV girls going up against Island School in an exhibition match starting at noon.
