Red Raider soccer girls in quarterfinals

Kauai High School’s varsity girls soccer team defeated Leilehua of the Oahu Interscholastic Federation, 1-nil, in the opening round of The Queen’s Medical Center Girls Soccer Championships – Division II state tournament Wednesday.

“We played to our full potential today. We played really well,” Kauai High head coach Joe Cassler said in a phone interview. “We moved the ball around. Hats off to Leilehua. They’re a really, really good team. Really solid, physical team, and they brought the competition to us. It was really good for our girls to come out with a win.”

Freshman midfielder Kehela Ventura, who was brought up from the junior varsity team, scored the game’s lone goal at the 33rd minute. Senior forward Aleigha Scovel had the assist.

“We had confidence that she (Ventura) would do that for us. That’s the reason why we brought her up,” Cassler said. “She was in the right place at the right time, where we needed her to be, and she took advantage of the opportunity. Great play, altogether, in terms of the goal.”

Kauai High will play Pac-Five of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. today at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.

“They’re fresh. They’re coming off a bye. They have that going for them,” Cassler said about the team’s upcoming opponent. “We played a really physical game today. A tough game. So, we just got to be mentally prepared for that. The speed of play is going to be faster than today. We just got to keep our mentality focused on what we need to be doing all of the time.”

Kapaa High School’s varsity soccer team will also play 3 p.m. today at Waipio against Makua Lani of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation. Makua Lani defeated OIA’s Waianae, 3-1, in the opening round Wednesday.

Kapaa varsity coach Mytra McKeague couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.