Pearl City boys roll over Moanalua
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
A year after its biggest disappointing moment, the Pearl City High School boys soccer team regained its usual place in the state tournament yesterday with a 3-0 victory over Moanalua at Kaiser High School in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association quarterfinals.
The Chargers (8-1-1) advance to Wednesday's semifinal against Roosevelt, a 1-0 upset winner over the Eastern Division's No. 1 seed, Kaiser. Defending champion Mililani will play Castle in the other semifinal.
All four of yesterday's winners secured berths in the state tournament.
No team cherished it more than Pearl City, which had to forfeit five regular-season wins and two ties last season after it was discovered the Chargers had used an ineligible player in those games.
The forfeits cost them a berth in the OIA playoffs and were a tough blow for a program that was defending OIA champ and won four straight league titles from 1987-90.
"It was in the back of our minds; I'd be lying if I said we didn't think about it this season," Pearl City coach Scott Keopuhiwa said. "But I think it fueled our fire. We really wanted to get back to states this year, especially for the seniors who missed their chance last year."
The Chargers, seeded No. 2 in the West, took a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute on Kenshiro Uki's goal off Ricky Shinn's assist. Shinn made it 2-0 in the 45th minute on a short goal off Jordan Avenue's assist. And Chris Ka'auku'u's goal in the 80th minute off Shinn's assist sealed it.
Pearl City out-shot the Menehunes 7-3 in the first half, but the Chargers also were called for being offsides four times.
"We knew Moanalua would be flying because they were coming off a big win (Friday night), so we knew we had to step up to the challenge," said Shinn, a first-team Advertsier All-State selection last season. "It was frustrating in the first half, but our coach told us to keep our heads and keep playing, and the goals would come."
Although Moanalua (8-3-1) was seeded third in the East, the Menehunes had beaten Pearl City in the preseason. But Moanalua coach Spencer Machado said it was a different Chargers team that won yesterday.
"They came out faster than last time," Machado said. "They beat us on the transition, and we couldn't adjust to that. They have good forwards who are real fast. They dominated us tonight."
Keopuhiwa said the Menehunes were one of the few teams that could match up speed-wise to Pearl City. And although the Chargers earned a first-round bye, that also meant a seven-day layoff between games.
"It took a while for us to get the rust off," Keopuhiwa said. "We did better in the second half; we just had to focus."
Shinn said that's easier now that last year's bitter ending is fully behind them.
"Last year, we just had to play for pride, but now we finally get a chance to play for something big," Shinn said."
• Castle 1, Campbell 0: At Mililani, the Knights (8-1-2) advanced to the semifinals by defeating the Sabers (7-2-2).
• Roosevelt 1, Kaiser 0: At Kaiser, Holdern Lau scored the game's only goal to lift the Rough Riders (8-3-1) past the Cougars (7-2-2).
• Mililani 5, Kapolei 0: Justin Kim scored two goals and Ceferin Oliva, Todd Sorbin and Nathan Amous each scored one to lead the Trojans (9-0-1) past the Hurricanes (5-4-2).
ILH
Boys Varsity
Iolani 1, Mid-Pacific 0. Iol: Riley Bruhn.
Hawai'i Baptist 3, Damien 1. HBA: Cameron Holm, Jonathan Tamayose, Micah Munekata. Dami: Kyle Meheula.
Punahou 5, Saint Louis 0. Pun: Shon Morishige, Stephen Carlson, Wade Nakagawa, Satoshi Mitsuda, Christopher Rania.
Pac-Five 1, Kamehameha 0. Pac: Jeremy Wittig.
Girls Varsity
Punahou 4, Pac-Five 1. Pun: Adria Campbell 2, Rachael Lau 1, Kelsie Look 1. Pac: Britta Borne.
Kamehameha 8, Mid-Pacific 0. Kam: Lehua Wood 2, Miki Nakamura 2, Andrea Andrews 1, India Soo 1, Sarah Vasconcellos 1, Caycie Gusman 1.
Iolani 3, St. Francis 0. Iol: Keri Oyadomari 2, Kristen Imada 1.
