PUHI — The Warriors scored seven goals in the second half en route to a 10-nil win over Island School on Tuesday. “I thought we did a good job keeping the ball moving. I thought we did well in our
PUHI — The Warriors scored seven goals in the second half en route to a 10-nil win over Island School on Tuesday.
“I thought we did a good job keeping the ball moving. I thought we did well in our possession game,” said Kapaa assistant coach Scott Grainger. “We had some challenges finishing early, but those got solved about midway through the first half. And the back line was really organized and just kept the pressure off our goalkeeper.”
Ahead three goals by halftime, Kapaa (8-1-0 KIF) continued to pour it on offensively.
Warriors senior midfielders Vanessa Hernandez, Natalie Devin and Kaisha Davis-Caberto, and junior forward Brianna Binder each scored two goals in the match. Both Davis-Caberto and Devin scored their goals in the second half.
“It’s contagious. Scoring is contagious,” Davis-Caberto said. “Once we got one, we kept going.”
Despite the 10-goal result, Grainger said there were still things the team could have done better with.
“We’ve told all of our girls that we want to have high accountability,” he said. “Our expectation is excellence as a team. There were some set plays we weren’t as accountable as we should be. There were some defensive markups that we could have done a better job at. And maybe slowing down the transition game through the (middle third of the field) and building numbers. Those are some things we’ll be looking at in the coming weeks.”
Up until Kapaa’s first goal about midway through the first half and the Warriors’ offense opened up, Island School (3-6-0 KIF) held its own. The Voyagers had a number of chances early in the opening half, but couldn’t put one in the net.
The best chance came minutes into the match. Senior striker Ali Temme had a shot off a cross served into the 18-yard box by junior midfielder Makenzie Hubbard, but was saved by Warriors senior goalie Nygeria Williams.
“Didn’t get a result we’d want,” said Island School head coach Colby Ayonon. “We had some opportunities we could have capitalized on. We definitely had a little more offensive presence since some of our last match-ups with Kapaa. It’s just hard to build off these type of results, but our girls know what the errors were. We just got to get a little more consistency.”
After Kapaa scored its tenth goal at the 71st minute, Island School subbed out starting goalkeeper, junior Hannah Whelan, and junior midfielder Emma Kelekoma played goalie the rest of the way.
With minutes left, Kapaa was awarded a penalty kick. Warriors junior midfielder Mikela Puig took the PK, and Kelekoma made the save.
Kelekoma said it was her first time at goalkeeper since last season.
“It’s good to be back — for 10 minutes,” she said. “(I was a) full-time keeper my freshman year. Sophomore year, I kind of faded out of it and started playing on the field.”
Island School played its last home game this season. Four Voyagers seniors were recognized after the match — Temme, midfielder Nora Foss, defender Allison Summerhays, and striker Salisa Pegeder.
“Our seniors are good kids. A lot of them played for us freshman year,” Ayonon said. “It’s the first class that I’ve coached from freshman to senior (year) at this program. It’s a little bittersweet.”
Kapaa will next play Kauai High at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium. Island School will play Waimea at 10 a.m. Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium.
Scoring summary
Kapaa: Vanessa Hernandez 2 (24’, 53’), Brianna Binder 2 (37’, 54’), Natalie Devin 2 (43’, 59’), Kaisha Davis-Caberto 2 (60’, 63’), Kaylee Overmyer (35’), Talia Washington (71’)
