Trojans take girls' OIA soccer crown
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
After missing numerous scoring opportunities, the Mililani girls soccer team was on the mark during a penalty-kick shootout following a scoreless duel with Kalaheo last night.
The Trojans connected on all four of their penalty kicks to win the shootout, 4-2, and capture the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship at Pearl City.
Julie Broussard, Jolie Nitta, Liane Tom and Ashlee Doi each stepped up to the 12-yard penalty spot and calmly put shots past Mustangs goal keeper Amy Lusk.
"We always practice our penalty shooting and they always seem to be the ones who put them in," Mililani coach James Uson said.
Kalaheo shot first during the shootout, and missed its first and fourth attempts against Mililani goal keeper Eryn Kishimoto. The first miss went wide right and the other sailed over the crossbar.
"She's awesome," Uson said of Kishimoto. "She's one of the smaller goalies, but I think she's one of the better ones in the state."
Kishimoto ripped off her gloves and tossed them to the back of the net before Kalaheo attempted its third kick.
"It's a psychological thing, to psyche them out," Kishimoto said. "It worked twice in two tournaments before this so I figured I'd do it again and it worked again."
The Trojans (11-0-1) ended it when Doi put her kick into the right corner of the goal.
"I missed so many big PKs in my life before," Doi said. "I was confident because I missed so many in my life that I couldn't miss another one."
The ending was a familiar one for the Mustangs (10-2-1), who lost to Kailua and Kahuku on penalty kicks during last year's OIA Championships.
"As soon as we made the OIA Championships, we practiced it and practiced it," said Kalaheo coach Alan Heu. "I guess we're not too good at shootouts."
Mililani had several scoring opportunities in the 80-minute regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, but couldn't find the back of the net.
Mililani, Kalaheo, 'Aiea (9-1-2), Pearl City (9-3-1) and Kailua (9-2-2) will represent the OIA at the state tournament, Feb. 13-16 on Maui.
