The Waimea boys beat Island School 4-0 Wednesday night, while Kapaa and Kauai tied at 1. The win keeps Waimea and Kapaa tied for the lead of the boys’ standings with five games to go. On the girls field, Island
The Waimea boys beat Island School 4-0 Wednesday night, while Kapaa and Kauai tied at 1. The win keeps Waimea and Kapaa tied for the lead of the boys’ standings with five games to go.
On the girls field, Island School’s 5-1 win over the Waimea keeps the Menehune still in search of their first win. Kapaa won 1-0 over Kauai.
“I want to be the one to represent the KIF at the state tournament,” said Kauai coach Kevin Devitt. “There will be two teams from the KIF in the Division II state tournament.”
Kapaa coach Kevin Cram said one team will represent the KIF and the other will be part of the Division II tournament field.
“The first and second place teams from the KIF will participate in the state tournament,” Cram said. “We’re up half a game and Kauai needs to win everything. We must win, or tie, the rest of our games.”
Boys highlights
For the boys, only one team will be at the state tournament and the urgency for the KIF title, and the rights to the state tournament, is even more critical.
“We had a tough game against Kapaa,” said Kauai coach Mark Brandeburg. “Both teams played well, and I think we entertained the crowd, tonight.”
Kapaa boys struck early when Justin Franklin found the goal at the 13th minute, carrying a 1-0 lead into the half.
Both teams engaged in physical play throughout the night. Kauai tied the contest in the 64th minute when Eric Benitez netted the ball on a penalty kick.
“We got to make our penalty shots,” Brandeburg said. “This is the fourth one we missed this season.”
The intensity of the game was demonstrated as three yellow cards were issued in the second half, including one to Kapaa goalkeeper Austyn Carvalho-Toloai in the 81st minute.
Koa Kaliai was subbed in for Carvalho-Toloai after the foul and made a diving save on the ensuing penalty kick, the crowd roaring in jubilation.
On the boys’ field at Island School, Waimea’s Isaiah Duldulao fired off two goals and had a crowd-pleasing assist to lead the Menehune to its 4-0 shutout over a tenacious and hard-hitting Voyager squad.
Girls highlights
Another Carvalho-Toloai, Ana, worked her way from a defensive turn-around to the Kauai net in the 28th minute for the sole score in the Kapaa’s 1-0 win over Kauai.
“Kudos to her on the goal,” Devitt said. “That was good play. Overall, I think this was a well-played game. We just were sluggish in the first half. We made some fine tuning during the half and the girls came out and played well. We’re just going to have to ratchet up practice.”
The girls’ game was anchored by solid defense and center play throughout, Kapaa having its defense led by Eryka Keoho with solid help from Emily Johnson, Kaylee Overmyer, and the Devin sisters, Natalie and Megan, who were moved to center as needed.
“We knew Kauai had good players up front,” Cram said. “Kaylee came in strong for us, especially in the second half, and our defense was fairly tough tonight.”
“The cramping killed us,” Devitt said of his players breaking down physically. “We had at least four girls go down with cramps.”
Over at the Island School campus, Ali Temme peeled off two goals to lead the Voyager women to a 5-1 win, Waimea getting its score from Tiara Soliven.
The Voyagers’ Ally Pascual put her mark on the scorebook in the first minute of play. Brianna Binder added to the tally with a score in the 17th minute to start a scoring flurry.
Waimea’s Soliven netted a goal on the opposite end in the 18th minute before Temme netted her first goal in the 19th minute for the 3-0 lead at the half.
Coming off the break, the Voyagers launched another scoring flurry when Brianna Griep found the net in the 61st minute followed by Temme capping the win in the 62nd minute.
On Saturday, Kauai High School hosts Island School at Vidinha Stadium with two games, the varsity girls starting at 10 a.m. followed by the varsity boys kicking off at noon.
Waimea will host Kapaa at Hanapepe Stadium with the JV girls starting at 10 a.m. followed by the JV boys at 11:45 a.m. The varsity girls kick off starting at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys at 3:30 p.m.
