LIHUE — The Raiders notched their first win of the season, and did so beating a previously unbeaten team.
Kauai High School’s varsity boys soccer team edged Waimea High School, 1-nil, Wednesday evening at Vidinha Stadium.
“I was talking to the boys. I said, ‘You proved to me already you can be the best team on the field. What we need is the consistency. Keep that intensity, that dominance, for throughout the game,’” said Kauai High head coach Martin Steinhaus. “They managed to do that today. I think it’s very important. The win is going to boost their self-esteem and confidence. I think it’s going to be the first one of many.”
Red Raiders junior forward Whitney Lugo scored the game’s only goal at the 61st minute from inside the penalty area.
“I felt very excited. I didn’t think I was going to score first. I just thought it was going to roll through,” Lugo said. “Right after I hit that, I saw it slipped out of Kaimi’s (Menehune senior goalkeeper Kaimi Lau San-Agustin) hand. I knew that we scored, and we just had to hold it down from there.”
Lugo added about the team’s first win: “It feels very great. This game, it feels like we’re more of a team than the first time we challenged them. Overall, I just think we worked harder than we did in practice before, and we focused more.”
At the 73rd minute, Kauai High (1-4 KIF) had a chance at another goal. Red Raiders junior midfielder Logan Noice struck a header toward goal off a free kick, but his ball missed.
In the closing minutes, the home crowd grew loud and anxious as the Menehune pressed forward hoping for an equalizer. Those home supporters then cheered when the final whistle blew.
“It was a catharsis. You could hear the big relief, the release of emotions, out there,” Steinhaus said. “Now, they know they can do it. That’s exactly what they needed. They were not so consistent during the previous matches. But today, they just beat a team that was 4-0. That’s a big push forward.”
Waimea (4-1 KIF) had a scoring opportunity in the last seconds.
Menehune senior forward Austin Galas had the ball at his feet near the Kauai goal line. Before he could strike, Red Raiders junior goalkeeper Kyson Ikehara dove for the ball and covered it up to deny Galas a chance.
At the 72nd minute, Menehune sophomore midfielder Nicholas Semblante had a shot on goal from inside the 18-yard box, but Ikehara got a hand up to deflect the ball for a save.
“They put out a better effort than we did,” said Waimea head coach Kapono Chong-Hanssen. “Over the course of the 80 minutes, they played harder than we did, and the results showed. We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. We essentially had one sub available today, so there’s an element of fatigue. But the bottom line is that Kauai High put out a better effort than we did. Congrats to them for getting the win.”
As for the win streak ending, Chong-Hanssen said the team hopefully “learns a lesson” from it.
“We’re good, but we don’t have the depth or the talent to think we can give less than 100 percent and think we’re going to win against any team in the KIF,” he said. “It’s close enough to where any team can beat any team on a given day. That’s just the reality of it.”
Kauai High will play Island School (2-3 KIF) at noon Saturday at Vidinha Stadium. Waimea will host Kapaa (3-2 KIF) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium.
Varsity girls: Kauai 9,
Waimea 0
Kauai High’s varsity girls soccer team routed Waimea, 9-nil, Wednesday afternoon prior to the varsity boys match.
Kauai’s Mia Takekuma netted a hat trick in Wednesday’s win. Eryka Napoleon, Sonoi Kawakami and Kui Kanahele each scored two goals.
Kawakami was issued a yellow card for serious foul play.
Kauai (5-1-1 KIF) will host Island School (1-5-1 KIF) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium. Waimea (0-6-1 KIF) will play Kapaa (6-0-1 KIF) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium.
