They pushed Gabriel Magana and John Replogle up, basically giving them three forwards in an attempt to scramble for a game-tying goal Friday at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
They pushed Gabriel Magana and John Replogle up, basically giving them three forwards in an attempt to scramble for a game-tying goal Friday at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
The Konawaena Wildcats generated offensive pressure but couldn’t get what mattered most.
Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Mid-Pacific defeated Konawaena 3-0 in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II boys soccer state semifinals, earning the Owls a spot in today’s 5 p.m. state championship match.
Mid-Pacific (4-7-1) will face Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion Kapaa (10-0-4) in the final, while Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Konawaena (12-4-2) will take on Oahu Interscholastic Association champion Kalaheo (11-2-1) in today’s 1 p.m. third-place match.
Kye Drageset scored in the 19th minute to give Mid-Pacific a 1-0 lead, and it stayed that way through the early minutes of the second half, forcing Konawaena to lean on more aggressive tactics.
“We had some pressure on (Mid-Pacific), but they were a very good team, well-coached, very good with the ball,” Wildcats assistant coach Phil Fukushima said.
Fukushima knew “you expose yourself in the back” when teams use extra attackers, but with Konawaena trailing 1-0 in the second half, the team wasn’t worried about the margin of defeat.
Eshan Mehta gave the Owls an insurance goal in the 72nd minute, and Shinichiro Maeda capped the scoring in the 78th minute.
“They had one of their better games with ball movement, we just didn’t get any good shots at the goal,” Fukushima said of the Wildcats. “We’re very disappointed but very resilient. We’ll get ready and try to get third place.”
Hawaii Prep 4, Christian Liberty 2: Junior midfielder Teak Owen broke a 2-2 tie in the second half, scoring his third goal of the season on a header as BIIF No. 3 seed Ka Makani advanced to today’s fifth-place match.
Senior Kepa Police tallied his 29th and 30th goals for HPA (13-3), which will take on OIA runner-up Farrington (6-8-1) at 3 p.m.
The second of Police’s goals, an 18-yarder with about 5 minutes remaining, capped the scoring, and Jack Austin tallied his fourth goal.
Junior Nakaiya Kerr had tied the match at 2 early in the second half with his 26th goal for BIIF runner-up Christian Liberty, which ended its season 11-6-1.
In the first half, junior Louis Moylan gave the Canefire an early 1-0 lead with his 21st goal.