WAIMEA — There’s a saying in sports that it’s hard to beat a good team twice. It’s even more difficult to do it thrice, but that’s the situation Hawaii Preparatory Academy faced against Makua Lani in the BIIF Division II semifinals on Tuesday.
WAIMEA — There’s a saying in sports that it’s hard to beat a good team twice. It’s even more difficult to do it thrice, but that’s the situation Hawaii Preparatory Academy faced against Makua Lani in the BIIF Division II semifinals on Tuesday.
The Lions didn’t make it easy, but Ka Makani moved its record to 3-0 against their BIIF foe this month, using two goals from Emi Higgins to score a 2-1 victory to advance to the Division II Championship.
Ka Makani — the three-time defending state champions and seven-time BIIF champs — also locked up a berth in the HHSAA DII state tournament, from Feb. 1-4 on Oahu.
“Playing three times in two weeks against the same team is never easy,” Hawaii Prep head coach Steve Perry said. “There are no secrets.”
The theme of familiarity isn’t going anywhere. Hawaii Prep (7-2-2) will face Kamehameha-Hawaii (9-0-2) in the BIIF title game on Friday, which has become a nearly annual occurrence over the last decade. The squads also squared off in an all-BIIF state championship game last year, with Ka Makani coming out on top, 1-0.
In two regular season matchups, the Warriors edged Ka Makani 4-1 and the teams tied 1-1.
“It will be a good one,” Perry said of the championship contest.
On the other sideline, Makua Lani (3-8-0) head coach Riley Alcos is well-versed on Hawaii Prep’s championship pedigree. Despite the loss, he came away pleased with his team’s effort against the defending state champions.
“I thought our girls played one of their better games this season,” Alcos said. “Of course (Hawaii Prep) lost some players from last season, but they have that title of defending state champions. It’s cool to be able to stick with them as well as we did.”
Alcos has reason to be optimistic, since the season isn’t over for his Lions. They will hope to carry over the momentum into a BIIF DII third place game against Honokaa on Thursday at home with a state tourney berth on the line. The winner will host the Kauai Interscholastic Federation (KIF) third place team on Saturday for a play-in game for the tourney.
Getting back to the state stage has been a goal for the young Lions. Last year, Makua Lani recorded a program-building 3-1 victory over OIA opponent Waianae in the first round.
“I tell the girls never focus on what the result brings but focus on getting the result first,” Alcos said. “I’m excited for this team, but we are taking it one game at a time.”
There was a roar from Makua Lani keeper Brianne Lauro on a few occasions.
“Watch number five,” the senior keeper hollered at the defense in front of her. It was solid advice, since that No. 5 was printed on the back of Higgins’ jersey.
Higgins generated more than a few chances for Ka Makani in the first half, putting away a penalty kick at the 10 minute mark and scoring off her own rebound on a break away before half. Perry has been satisfied with how the sophomore striker has evolved and found confidence in her new role.
“I’ve been impressed how she’s stepped up this year,” Perry said. “Last year she was really a secondary option with a lot of the other talent we had. It’s tough to all of a sudden to be the one who is being watched now. She has really taken on that challenge and is very good at creating in 1-on-1 situations.”
Higgins calmly netted the PK, which was the result of a hand ball in the box that came on a fairly inconspicuous play.
“It was just unlucky,” Alcos said. “It was the right call. You just can’t do anything about that.”
Higgins started the second half much like the first, zooming past a defender, and letting go of a shot that looked to have eyes to go in off the right post. However, Lauro was there to turn away the chance to keep it at 2-0.
The saved proved to be fortuitous, when just a few minutes later Makua Lani junior forward Akari Shimizu put on an incredible individual display, weaving through defenders and delivering a strike that HPA keeper Maia Mills simply didn’t have a chance on, making it 2-1.
Moments later, Makua Lani nearly netted the equalizer, volleying a ball over the head of the Hawaii Prep defense that rolled about six inches wide of the net.
Ka Makani recovered from the scare, and controlled possession for the final minutes of the game to come away with the win.
“We came out a little too relaxed in the second half and momentum got on their side,” Perry said. “We just have to clean it up.”