LIHUE — Kapaa High School’s varsity boys soccer team defeated Waimea, 1-nil, Saturday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium. “The boys needed a challenge for this match. Knowing that Waimea was already going to states, it was their turn to show that
LIHUE — Kapaa High School’s varsity boys soccer team defeated Waimea, 1-nil, Saturday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium.
“The boys needed a challenge for this match. Knowing that Waimea was already going to states, it was their turn to show that they can compete,” said Kapaa head coach Kevin Cram. “That was our incentive to win the match.”
Warriors senior forward Jordan Layaoen netted the game’s lone goal at the 37th minute. He took one touch in the penalty area before striking for the goal-ahead score.
Senior midfielder Justin Franklin had the assist on the play.
“I saw Justin send it to me. I just saw the ball, and I was just, ‘Oh, it’s my turn to go, ran up and don’t worry about the people behind me. Just go to goal,’” Layaoen said. “As I got to the goal box, I was just like, ‘I need to shoot this.’ I just shot and it went in.”
“I think it feels pretty good. All season, we’ve been trying to score on them,” he added about the win. “Who would have know that I would score it? It was cool.”
Warriors senior midfielder Max Nice had a chance for the team’s second goal at the 52nd minute. He took a shot inside the penalty area, but the Waimea goalkeeper, sophomore Ka’imi Lau San Augustin, made the save.
Cram said the factor for getting this win was “just scoring.”
“They kept out of the goal the other three matches. This one, we were finally able to get one in,” he said. “That made the difference.”
At the 19th minute, Menehune junior forward Keane Caberto had a shot for the game’s first goal. His tap was aimed at the low near side corner, but the Warriors goalie, senior Kainalu Gandia, made a diving save.
Menehune junior midfielder Carl Mecham had a chance for an equalizer from inside the 18-yard box at the 59th minute, but his ball went straight to Gandia.
“Kapaa played well and they nicked a goal off of us. We had to play our backup goalie, and we were playing some guys in different positions,” said Waimea head coach Kapono Chong-Hanssen. “Of course we wanted a win, but we wanted to try out some new things. Our defenders got burned trying to push up into the offense. We left our guys exposed one-one-one, and they nicked a goal.”
The Menehune coach added perhaps being down 1-nil was a blessing in disguise before the team heads off to states.
“We’ve haven’t had that situation on us this year. Maybe it’s going to happen at the state tournament,” Chong-Hanssen said. “We need to know how to come back from a deficit. We didn’t come back today, but at least the boys were put in that position.”
“Anything that happens, even though it feels like a setback, it’s good experience for the state tournament at this point,” he added. “You can always find a positive in whatever happens in a game.”
Kapaa (6-3-2 KIF, 20 points) will play Kauai High (0-11-0 KIF, 0 points) at 11:45 a.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.
“(We want) to just finish strong, to play well and try to put together everything we practice on,” Cram said.
KIF winner Waimea (8-1-2 KIF, 26 points) will play at Island School (4-3-4 KIF, 16 points) at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
“I think the boys care a lot about the game from the last two ties with Island School,” Chong-Hanssen said. “We’re going to keep working on positions.”
Varsity girls
Kauai 3, Island School 0
– Kauai goal scorers: Aleigha Scovel, Judy Ann Edurise, Kehela Ventura
Kapaa 11, Waimea 0
– Kapaa goal scorers: April Barnes (5), Kaisha Davis-Caberto (2), Brianna Binder (2), Kela Wood, Rukiyah Walker
Varsity boys
Island School 1, Kauai 0
Island School goal scorer: Josh Miller
