HANAPEPE — The Kaua‘i varsity girls and the Kapa‘a varsity boys strengthened its respective division leads Saturday when the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation opened its second round of soccer with six games on the calendar. Kaua‘i girls, ending the first round
HANAPEPE — The Kaua‘i varsity girls and the Kapa‘a varsity boys strengthened its respective division leads Saturday when the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation opened its second round of soccer with six games on the calendar.
Kaua‘i girls, ending the first round with a tie in its standings, overcame a tenacious Waimea defense for a 4-0 win at Hanapepe Stadium.
The Kaua‘i boys, challenging Kapa‘a, the current boys varsity leader, on every front, escaped with a 1-1 tie on the field where the Red Raiders’ ranks were depleted to just one player on the bench following the extraction of its goalkeeper in the first half at Hanapepe Stadium.
No game reports were available for the Kapa‘a and Island School matchup at Vidinha Stadium, but according to Waimea High School officials working the admission gate, there was an unofficial report giving Kapa‘a the win over Island Schools.
This places Kapa‘a in an even stronger position for the lead and pushes Kaua‘i to a point where every game becomes critical for a victory.
Island School’s Madison Moore scored two goals to lead the Voyagers to a 2-0 exhibition match over the Kapa‘a Junior Varsity squad, the game’s intensity being demonstrated by yellow cards for unsporting conduct being issued to Ariel Cummings and Analeigha Carvalho-Toloai.
Bailey Hanna and Red Scovel combined for four goals, each girls netting a pair, in Kaua‘i JV girls’ 9-0 win over Waimea at Hanapepe Stadium.
D. Curtis, K. Pagador, J. Souza, K. Souza and K. Taniguchi each scored a goal in the JV Red Raider win.
Erik Benitez and Ryan Ruiz each netted a pair of goals to lead the Kaua‘i JV boys to its 7-2 final at Hanapepe Stadium.
Trailing 6-0 at the half, the Menehune JV boys coughed up a a pair of second-half goals to prevent a shutout, Noah Alejandro finding the net at the 34th minute followed by Haku Barriga scoring in the 50th minute.
Helping Benitez and Ruiz, Trevor Freudig, Shaedan Talland and Kai Anacleto scored for the Kaua‘i JV boys, setting the stage for the varsity matchups which played before a good-sized crowd which included numerous college students home for the winter break.
Malu Vegas, coming off the bench in the forward position, opened the scorebooks in the 13th minute, her shot up the middle getting past Waimea goalkeeper Kailani Yamamoto and clanging off the left post and rolling into the goal.
Despite strong pressure led by Menehune stopper Kaycee San Agustin-Nordmeier, Kylie Kuhlmann, recovering from an early-game injury leave, steered the ball to the rightside, passing to Janin Hashizume who fired from deep inside the pocket, the ball soaring over the head of Yamamoto, and with Teesha Tani ready to close the door, bounced into the goal over the second-effort save attempt by Yamamoto in the 23rd minute.
With just minutes remaining in the half, Caitlyn Cantorna gave Kaua‘i a 3-0 halftime lead with her goal in the 37th minute.
Kylie Kuhlmann, key ball mover in the forward middle position, iced the win in the 56th minute.
Waimea’s Leiana Alejandro was a causalty of the physically-intense matchup, getting a red card for serious foul play when she rolled over the goalkeeper, triggering the audience in support of the Menehune wing.
The ignited audience was ready for the slugfest which followed when Kaua‘i came back on a penalty shot to salvage the 1-1 stalemate.
Both teams came to play, although the Red Raiders were strapped with missing players and players benched by injuries. The departure of its goalkeeper midway through the first half left Kaua‘i with just one reliever on its bench.
Following a 0-0 deadlock through the half, Waimea got into the scorebooks when Jaron Parongao capitalized on a corner kick in heavy traffic, the ball rolling past the Kaua‘i goalkeeper on the leftside in the 49th minute.
Faced with the uphill battle of trying for a win, Kaua‘i battled back in the physically-intense game where Waimea drew three yellow cards from the referee and Kaua‘i drew one card when Anthony Gammerino was carded for unsporting conduct.
Coming with just ticks showing in the half, Byron Freitas Jr. was issued a yellow card for persistent infringements.
With less than five minutes peeled off the second half, Erik Siles drew a yellow for dissent and strong defender Wyatt Taniguchi was carded in the 60th minute for dissent.
At the same time, Lucas Gushikuma, playing key midfield for Kaua‘i, drew the tie with his successful penalty boot.
Waimea next hosts Island School Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium when the varsity boys take the field starting at 10 a.m. followed by the JV girls at noon in an exhibition match.
Kaua‘i will face Kapa‘a with four games on tap at Vidinha Stadium starting with the JV Girls at 10 a.m. followed by the JV Boys at 11:45 a.m.
The varsity girls square off starting at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys starting at 3:30 p.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
