By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mililani and ‘Iolani set up a rematch of last year’s championship game, and top-seeded Pearl City was the only team to win by more than one goal in yesterday’s quarterfinal games of the AT&T Wireless State Boys Soccer Championships at wind-whipped Aloha Stadium.
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| Campbell’s Chris Kita tries to take control while being guarded by ‘Iolani’s Curtis Nickel during a quarterfinal of the boys state soccer tournament. ‘Iolani won, 2-1.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Defending champion, second-seeded ‘Iolani and unseeded Mililani will meet at 7:30 tonight. Last year, ‘Iolani won, 2-1. Unbeaten Pearl City and Hilo play in the other semifinal at 5:30.
Wind gusts as high as 50 mph raked the stadium, causing officials to put sand on the field to hold balls in place for penalty kicks and causing corner kickers to use a holder like football place kickers.
QUARTERFINALS
 Mililani 2, Baldwin 1: The Trojans earned a rematch of last year’s championship with a shootout victory.
The Trojans outscored the Bears 5-3 in the shootout after two scoreless sudden-death overtimes.
Defender Kahi Hernandez put in the game-ending penalty kick, an untouched bullet to the right of the Baldwin goalkeeper.
Mililani kicked first in the shootout, which gives five players on each team alternate free kicks from 12 yards out.
Blaine Murakami scored on Mililani’s first shot.
"Before he shot, I told him, ‘Don’t miss.’ I guess it worked," Mililani goalkeeper Thomas Brown said.
On Baldwin’s first attempt, Kawika Kahui, the Maui Interscholastic League scoring champion, boomed his shot over the crossbar.
The next three kickers for each team made their shots, setting up Hernandez for the winner in the final round.
"As I walked up to the spot, I told myself, ‘It’s just like practice,’ and that relieved the pressure a lot," Hernandez said.
In regulation, Baldwin’s Kahui flicked Jeff Andaya’s long throw-in off his head from about three yards out for the first score at 32:25.
Mililani tied it at 60:42 on Tim Liu’s penalty kick after the Baldwin goalkeeper had grabbed Ian Pascua in front of the goal rather than surrender an easy goal.
Brown saved Mililani in both 10-minute, sudden-death overtimes. He intercepted a cross in the final 10 seconds of the first overtime and punched Paul Spencer Tojo’s long drive over the goal in the final minute of the second overtime.
"It was a gallant, courageous effort," Mililani coach Jeff Yamamoto said. "I feel like we were in a stick fight and somebody forgot to give us a stick."
Because of repeated power outages Wednesday night, Mililani started the second half of its first-round game at 9:30 yesterday morning and finished its quarterfinal game at 8:20 last night.
‘Iolani 2, Campbell 1: Freshman goalkeeper Jason Keanini stopped two consecutive shootout kicks as the defending champion, second-seeded Raiders came from behind to defeat the Sabers.
‘Iolani won the shootout, 4-3, after the teams tied 1-1 in 100 minutes of regulation and two sudden-death overtimes.
Campbell took a 1-0 lead at 74 minutes on a perfectly executed corner kick.
Donovan Gaboya kicked the ball across the face of the goal, and Shaunsey Saito headed it into the net from just to the left of the goal.
‘Iolani tied the game at 77:13 when Travis Watanabe outmuscled the Campbell sweeper to control a pass at the top of the penalty area and fired a line drive over the goalkeeper.
In the shootout, Taisee Lee gave Campbell a 2-1 lead after Kawika Ishikawa made a diving save of ‘Iolani’s second shot.
Brent Tatsuno tied the score at 3 in the fourth round and Keanini made a one-handed, leaping save on Campbell’s shot.
In the fifth and final round, Dale Lee scored to give ‘Iolani a 4-3 lead and Keanini punched Campbell’s last shot away.
"I have to give it to the coaching staff," Keanini said. "On the first three shots, I did it my way — half guessing, half reacting — and they scored. The coaches told me to trust my instincts, and on the last two, I just reacted to their hip and leg movement."
Coach Myles Arakawa said ‘Iolani put the shootout burden on the freshman Keanini, who did not play in regulation or overtimes, because of his fast reactions.
"I had to come through," Keanini said. He made a spectacular stop of the fourth shot, leaping high to his left, and slapping it away with his right hand.
The fifth shot was soft to his left and Keanini easily punched it away from the goal with both fists.
Hilo 1, ‘Aiea 0: Hilo is used to playing in strong winds and the Vikings felt the 40-50 mph gusts that whipped through the open Northeast corner of Aloha Stadium worked to their advantage.
With the wind filling their sails, the Vikings (13-2) advanced to the semifinals for the second year in a row by defeating ‘Aiea.
Jeremy Van Kralingen scored the goal off a direct free kick from 19 yards, just inside the left corner penalty area, at 12:20.
He whistled a perfect shot into the extreme upper right corner.
Assistant coach Joy Memmer said the wind was an advantage for Hilo. "We like to play in the air, and we’re good at it," Memmer said. "It blows 35 mph at our practice field in Hilo and we can predict where the ball is going in the wind."
Pearl City 4, Kalani 1: The Falcons opened the scoring but the Chargers soon took control.
Kalani’s Grant Arakaki headed in Daniel Dabs’ corner kick at 11:42.
Pearl City tied it three minutes later when Brian Kishimoto curved an 18-yard free kick around the wall after a pushing foul.
Pearl City took the lead 5:38 into the second half when Robert Shinn made a long throw-in that deflected off brother Ricky’s back into the goal at 45:38. Robert Shinn headed in a corner kick from Daniel Park at 56:18 for a 3-1 Charger lead.
Freshman Jaren Oshiro made the final goal at 73:18, heading in another corner kick by Park.
Pearl City improved to 13-0-0 and Kalani slipped into the losers’ bracket at 9-3-3.
First Round
Mililani 4, Kealakehe 0: A good night’s sleep and the wind at their backs helped the Trojans, who made four of five shots in the delayed second half.
The game was scoreless at halftime at about 9 o’clock Wednesday night when it was postponed because of several power interruptions at Aloha Stadium.
Mililani started the new day and second half impressively, scoring in 32 seconds on a header by Kilipake Kanae. 2000 all-stater Jarrett Razon added goals at 50:12 and 58:19. Justin Kim scored the final goal at 68:01.
Consolation
Kamehameha 4, Kapa‘a 1: Sophomore Brandon Tario scored twice — at 13:33 and 55:24 — as the O’ahu Warriors earned a place in Saturday’s consolation final. Alika Ah New (18:06) and Kekoa Smith (52:58) added goals for Kamehameha. Colby Ayonon scored for Kapa‘a at 62:20.
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