Waiakea girls soccer head coach Jason Nakayama couldn’t remember the last time the Warriors had played in the Ka Makani Soccer Classic, but his squad made the most of its appearance in the 43rd edition of the prestigious preseason tournament.
Waiakea girls soccer head coach Jason Nakayama couldn’t remember the last time the Warriors had played in the Ka Makani Soccer Classic, but his squad made the most of its appearance in the 43rd edition of the prestigious preseason tournament.
After knocking off Kapaa on Friday and host Hawaii Preparatory Academy on Saturday, the lady Warriors advanced to play King Kekaulike in the championship game Sunday. Waiakea came up short, losing 3-0 to Na Ali‘i, but Nakayama is taking away more than a handful of positives from the weekend.
“It was a really good experience for our team. We have a mix of younger and older players trying to play together, so we are trying to find that balance,” Nakayama said. “Giving our team a chance to see other teams outside of our island gives us an idea of where we are at. It gives us something to build off of.”
Tiera Arakawa got King Kekaulike on the board with an early goal by shaking a defender and lobbing a shot past the Waiakea keeper.
Na Ali‘i almost added to their lead minutes later with a high arching shot that bounced off the post and straddled the goal line but stayed out.
Waiakea picked up the pressure with strong play from returning All-Big Island Interscholastic Federation honorable mention midfielder Sabrina Scott, but were not able to break through.
After the half, King Kekaulike came out firing. Anuhea Paresa-Kekona scored on a header to make it 2-0, and then Arakawa picked up her second.
King Kekaulike outscored its opponents 10-0 in the tournament, with goalkeeper Shelby Akuna pitching the three-day shutout. It is the second time in three years that Na Ali‘i have won the tournament.
“They came out strong and possessed the ball,” Nakayama said. “As a young group, we need to play a little more organized. This whole weekend I saw good things from the girls. But because it is so early in the season I think there are a lot of little things we can improve on to get to where we want to be.”
It was a busy weekend of soccer in Waimea, with the weather cooperating Sunday after two days of inclement weather. For most of the morning there were three games going on at the HPA campus within a rocks throw of each other.
Up the hill from the championship game, familiar foes HPA and Mid-Pacific faced off in the girls’ third-place game. The teams have faced each other in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II championship game the past three seasons, with Mid-Pac winning in 2012, ’13, and HPA last season. The Owls edged Ka Makani 1-0.
Boys
It was a tight matchup in the boys championship between Punahou and King Kekaulike.
The Buffanblu tied the game at 2-all with one minute left in regulation, and then netted the game-winner in double overtime.
In the other consolation games, Kealakehe defeated Pearl City 2-1 and HPA knocked off Kapaa 2-0 for seventh place.