Kody Gardner is an Under 8 player, but playing up in the Under 10 boys division, netted two goals to lead the Westside Falcons 9 to a 4-0 win over the Tunda Girls in the season-opening games at North Vidinha.
Kody Gardner is an Under 8 player, but playing up in the Under 10 boys division, netted two goals to lead the Westside Falcons 9 to a 4-0 win over the Tunda Girls in the season-opening games at North Vidinha.
Gardner was joined by Kaleomana Meatoga and Ryan Ruiz in the final math for the Under 9 Falcons.
That may have taken some of the wind out of the spry 8-year-old as he and the Westside Falcon 8 suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Ha‘aheo TW in Gardner’s second game of the day.
Kaua‘i Soccer Association leader Kevin Devitt was pleased with the turnout for the fall season, noting that there are 22 teams participating.
“We don’t have an 18- age group for this season, but there are some good teams,” Devitt said, while keeping an eye on his Garden Island Football Club girls who were tangling with Ha‘aheo Kaua‘i in a GU14 game.
“The oldest age group for this Seven-a-Side league is 14, but there are good teams playing,” he said.
The pinkshirts of Ha‘aheo Kaua‘i, under the coaching of Bobbie Rapozo and Lenny Rapozo, were scrapping it out on the field, the pinkshirts taking a lot of shots-on-goal, but being thwarted by GIFC 13 goalkeeper Kawehi Louis Diamond.
“She’s like a magnet out there,” Ross Kagawa, one of the coaches for the GIFC said from their tent. “She’s stopping a lot of balls and making some great saves.”
But the Ha‘aheo pinkshirts, undefeated and unscored on during a tournament on Maui earlier in the summer, persisted and finally found four second-half goals to nail a 4-0 win.
“They just gotta keep shooting,” said Kenny Rapozo, whose daughter was one of the forwards for Ha‘aheo. “One of the balls will go in. They just gotta keep shooting.”
In other action, the Westside Pride came out with a 2-1 edge over Ha‘aheo Boys while the Kapa‘a Blaze was 7-1 better than High Maintenance in the Under 8 division.
The Westside Falcon 10 blanked the Kaua‘i Sparks 5-0 in the Under 10 contest.
In the Under 12 arena, the Westside Falcons nipped the Lihu‘e Elements 3-1 while the Hawaiian Heat battled the KSC-Blazing Angels to a 1-1 tie. The Panthers drew an opening day bye.
The GIFC-Cougars came out with a 6-4 margin over the Westside United in the BU14 contest played on the big field, and a tough 1-1 stalemate between the Westside Falcons and Eastside Galaxy rounded out the 14-year-old contests. The GIFC 14 drew an opening day bye.
Games for the KSA Seven-a-Side league will all be played at the North Vidinha fields, said coach Karl Ubongen. Those games will take the field on Sundays starting at 11:30 a.m.
There is no admission to view the competition between young players from under 8 years old through 14 years of age.
