KEAAU — If freshman Kalia Franklin’s Waiakea soccer teammates had accurate aim like her, we’d be talking a different story about their game against Kamehameha.
Instead, one Warrior kicked a shot right at the goalie, and another hit the left goal post in a 2-1 BIIF loss to Kamehameha on an overcast Tuesday at Paiea Stadium, where dark clouds threatened rain but didn’t let loose on any downpour.
Sophia Wilson, a junior forward, put on a jet pack and outran the defense on the left wing for a score, and Nanea Wong Yuen, a senior fullback, scored on a corner kick for the Division II Warriors (1-0), who won consecutive BIIF titles in 2018 and 2019.
Franklin, one of the league’s most promising players, scored with 10 seconds left on the right wing for Waiakea (0-1), which has long filled the role as the league’s Division I No. 3 team, behind Konawaena and Hilo.
Waiakea usually travels to Maui during the preseason, but didn’t travel this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the new wave Omicron variant hitting Hawaii, coach Steve Petner is glad to get any games in. (The Department of Health reported 50 Omicron cases on Monday.)
“We usually go to Maui and play Maui High, Baldwin, King Kekaulike, and Kamehameha-Maui,” he said. “I’m happy to get any games in.
“We had no preseason of any kind. It’s just a learning process. We have to learn to play together.”
Petner’s team returns starters four starters in senior midfielders Kaitlin Beatty and Keilee Silva, and two junior defenders in KK Hashizaki and Nahiena Kekuawela.
Waiakea has never won a BIIF championship and suffered a hard-breaking 2-1 double-overtime loss to Hilo in the BIIF semifinals in 2020. The Vikings qualified for the BIIF championship for the fifth straight year. Konawaena won BIIF titles in 2019 and 2020.
“We’re just worried about the next game,” Petner said. “We’ll improve, and we’ll see what happens in another two months.”
Kamehameha coach Steve Cootey takes over for Gene Okamura, who’s the busiest soccer coach in Hawaii. The UH-Hilo women’s coach slides over to coach the Kamehameha boys.
“It was a great first win for us. We battled and fought the entire game, just gritted it out,” Cootey said. “I thought our outside backs Cristyn (Parong) and Kehau (Yamanoha) really stepped up big time and marked their outside wingers.”
Cootey has been on the receiving end of shots close to the goalie that went in and rockets near the goal post that wind up in the back of the net.
“Sometimes, it happens, and I’m glad to be on the other side of that,” he said. “It’s just the way the game goes sometimes. We got fortunate on our corner kick that slipped in near post, which doesn’t happen all the time. It hit the post and bounced the other way for us. We play again, and it could bounce the other way for us.”
Cootey has two standout All-BIIF players in Wilson, who was simply too fast for Waiakea’s defense, and Wong Yuen, who signed to play for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, a Division II school in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The Division II Warriors lost one huge piece in All-BIIF forward Chenoa Frederick, who’s competing in track and field at UH-Manoa.
However, Kamehameha has a shot to stop Hawaii Prep’s state legacy run. Ka Makani won Division II state titles from 2015 to 2019.
“We’ve got a great team with a lot of potential,” Cootey said. “That’s our goal this year.”
