If there was any tie that felt like a loss, Kealakehe girls soccer coach Jim Smith said, it was the Waveriders’ scoreless match against Honokaa Thursday at Waverider Stadium.
If there was any tie that felt like a loss, Kealakehe girls soccer coach Jim Smith said, it was the Waveriders’ scoreless match against Honokaa Thursday at Waverider Stadium.
Smith’s team had three goals disallowed in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation match — officials called Kealakehe (4-0-2) offside on two of them and ruled Kailii Smith tripped a defender while she possessed the ball before drilling the ball into the net.
Honokaa left Kailua-Kona at 5-1-1.
The officiating infuriated Jim Smith, who plans on filing a protest. The Kealakehe coach also contends the match’s center referee — he identified him as Robert Hassey — admitted to having some sort of grudge against him.
“He said, ‘We’re not going to give you any calls because you’re the coach,”’ Smith said.
Smith said the interaction with the center referee forced him to consider stepping down at the end of the season.
“I’ll finish the season, but if we’re not going to get any calls because I’m the coach, I won’t do it,” he said.
Officials called Ana Tuppein offside after making a run down the left flank and taking a pass from Lexi Cuaresma.
Then on a corner kick, Caili Ebaniz was ruled offside on a ball she settled and flicked into the net from about a foot away, Smith said.
The Kealakehe coach took exception to that call because, he maintained, Honokaa had defenders planted near both goalposts.
Officials then ruled Kailii Smith tripped a Honokaa player while she advanced the ball toward the Dragons’ goal, Jim Smith said.
“She was dribbling,” Jim Smith said. “How can you trip someone?”
He found just one positive aspect to Thursday’s match: the Waveriders received one point for a tie.
“That was about the only good thing about it,” said Smith, who repeatedly called the officiating a joke. “We didn’t lose.”
c Keaau 6, Ka‘u 0: Junior Naia Blackford scored her fourth and fifth goals of the season, while senior Avery Jarvis and sophomore Mahealani Kakazu each scored their first two goals in Pahala as the Cougars (3-4) stopped a four-match losing streak.
Senior Krisann Isomura and sophomore Savannah Hester combined to shut out the Trojans (1-6).
Boys
c Keaau 1, Ka’u 0: Christian Agudo scored his second goal midway through the second half in Pahala, corralling a rebound off a shot from Matt Shimabukuro as the Cougars improved to 2-4-2.
Goalkeepers Tyler Beyer and Justin Quesada combined to shut out the Trojans (2-6).