HANAPEPE — Kaua‘i Red Raiders girls soccer head coach Reiko Yoshida said her team had some butterflies heading into its first match of the season against Waimea. Less than a minute in, those butterflies turned into goals. Alyssa Vegas helped
HANAPEPE — Kaua‘i Red Raiders girls soccer head coach Reiko Yoshida said her team had some butterflies heading into its first match of the season against Waimea.
Less than a minute in, those butterflies turned into goals.
Alyssa Vegas helped the Red Raiders shake of their jitters 35 seconds into the game with a goal and helped lead Kaua‘i to a 3-1 win over the Menehune Saturday afternoon at Hanapepe Stadium.
The Raiders wasted no time making their way downfield. Kaua‘i swiftly took the from the opening play, and after a few crisp passes Vegas used her right foot to send the ball past Waimea goaltender Sondra Jacinto.
The Red Raiders were fortunate for the early goal, because the rest of the first half turned out to be a slugfest.
The Raiders and Menehune traded missed opportunities throughout the half. The Raiders hit the crossbar twice and the Menehune were thwarted by a leaping save by goaltender Kawehi Louis-Diamond.
Both teams broke through within a 4-minute span of each other later in the half. The Raiders increased their lead to 2-0 when Sue Goodridge dropped a lob shot over Jacinto’s head in the 17th minute, but the Menehune countered when Holly Ann Ka‘iakapu broke away on the left side and send a cross-field shot to the right of Louis-Diamond into the net to pull the Menehune within a goal in the 21st minute.
The first half ended without anymore scoring and the second half was all Red Raiders.
The Kaua‘i girls controlled the ball much better than they did in the first half.
“They were a little rusty in the first,” Yoshida said. “They came out strong in the second half.”
The Kaua‘i girls peppered the Menehune with shots, but many of them were from long range and non-threatening. But when the were able to move the ball inside they capitalized.
Marissa Ruiz scored the lone goal of the second half, netting it from deep in Menehune territory to give the Raiders a 3-1 lead in the 54th minute.
The Menehune once again had several chances in the second half, but head coach J.J. Simbre said the Waimea girls need to improve their team chemistry in order to start capitalizing.
Simbre said it was hard for the Menehune to put together a full roster until recently, so the team is still getting used to playing with each other.
“We played better than we expected today. The potential is there,” Simbre said. “Now that we have all of these girls, we’ll be all right. Just the chemistry part is not there yet.”
Several of the Menehune’s best scoring chances were thwarted by Kaua‘i’s Tyra Tandal. The senior defender stopped several Menehune breakaways with a burst of speed to catch up with the Waimea attacker.
“She did good today. She’s sick too,” Yoshida said of Tandal. “She’s my solid rock back there.”
The Menehune return to the pitch on Wednesday with a game against Kapa‘a at 6:30 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium. Kaua‘i will take on Island School Saturday at 11:45 a.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
