Zina’s hat trick fuels Kalaheo Fire win

LIHUE — Haley Zina fired off a hat trick and Coral Turner iced the 4-1 victory by the Kalaheo Fire Girls Under 12 team over the North Shore Futsal Club Sunday at the North Vidinha soccer fields.

Alyssa Lyons, swinging hard on the forward, fired off one goal to keep the North Shore team from being shut down as soccer games peppered the North Vidinha fields.

About 500 young soccer players representing more than 40 teams in the Kauai Soccer Association opened the fall season on teams ranging from under 8 through under 18.

“This fall season, Kauai Soccer Association will be playing under the Hawaii Soccer Federation which is a member of U.S. Club Soccer,” said Kevin Devitt, the KSA commissioner. “During the spring season, KSA will return to playing under the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association.”

Devitt said the season start was delayed due to confusion over new rules and initiatives adopted by the U.S. Club Soccer, but the board felt the season needed to go on.

“The game is the same,” Devitt said. “There are new player initiatives that all players in the United States will be playing under by 2017.”

The advantages of playing under U.S. Club Soccer is that it allows the Kauai soccer players the same opportunities as players on Oahu.

“We sent two girls to play with the Rush team on the Mainland during the summer,” Devitt said. “That is because of the player flexibility allowed among teams. Those girls would never have had the opportunity previously. But they played for Rush on Kauai and were able to travel to the Mainland with the Rush on Oahu.”

The next KSA soccer games will take place Sunday at the North Vidinha fields starting at 10 a.m.

“We’ll be having our Player Development Program next week,” Devitt said. “Saturday, there will be clinics from 4 to 6 p.m., and on Sunday, the HSF scouts will be on the field, scouting the various teams playing to watch how players perform on the field.”

There is no charge for viewing the games.