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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, February 11, 2006

Kamehameha, Mililani reach soccer final

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sanoe Souza, right, scores Kamehameha's third goal a minute before the end of the half. The Warriors defeated Baldwin, 4-1.

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STATE SOCCER

Meadow Gold Dairies Girls State Championships

At Kana'iaupuni Athletic Stadium on Kamehameha-Maui campus

Yesterday

Consolation bracket

Kamehameha-Hawai'i 5, Hilo 0

Konawaena 3, Kaua'i 1

Kaiser 2, King Kekaulike 0

Semifinals

Kamehameha 4, Baldwin 1

Mililani 1, Pearl City 0

Today

Consolation

Kalani vs. KS-Hawai'i, 1 p.m.

Fifth place

Konawaena vs. Kaiser, 3 p.m.

Third place

Baldwin vs. Pearl City, 5 p.m.

Championship

Kamehameha vs. Mililani, 7 p.m.

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PUKALANI, Maui — It will be top-seed Kamehameha vs. No. 2 Mililani for the state girls soccer title today at Kana'iaupuni Stadium.

The Warriors easily defeated Baldwin, 4-1. The Trojans stopped Pearl City, 1-0, yesterday in the semifinals of the Meadow Gold Dairies/HHSAA Championships.

KAMEHAMEHA 4, BALDWIN 1

Kamehameha (13-2) put on a scoring clinic, putting the ball in the goal in a myriad of ways yesterday.

"It makes me feel especially proud as a coach, because they applied everything they've been learning at training," Kamehameha coach Michele Nagamine said. "The last thing you want to be is predictable."

Baldwin (12-4-1) plays Pearl City (12-3-1) for third place.

Junior defender Marie Yempuku, senior midfielder Markee Nobriga, sophomore midfielder Sanoe Souza and junior forward/midfielder Shayna Kapaona scored for the Warriors, the top seed of the tournament.

Yempuku scored first in the 11th minute on a 25-yard rocket shot after controlling a ball the Baldwin defense was trying to clear.

"I just pushed up and I saw none of the Baldwin girls were stepping up," Yempuku said. "So I settled it and shot it."

Baldwin sophomore forward Keisha Shishido tied the game in the 24th minute on assists from junior forward Jasmine O'Brien and senior midfielder Maris van der Lee. O'Brien started the play near midfield, cutting the ball in front of a defender before passing it to van der Lee. van der Lee dribbled down the middle of the field, then passed to Shishido, who was running on her left. Shishido completed the play on a low left-footed shot.

Nobriga scored the go-ahead goal in the 33rd minute on a pass from senior forward Caycie Gusman. Gusman drove down the right sideline and passed a square ball in front of the goal for Nobriga to run on to.

"I called for it and Caycie slotted the ball to me," Nobriga said. "I kicked it really hard so it wouldn't hit the goalie."

Souza scored the Warriors' third goal a minute before the end of the half on a cross from freshman midfielder/forward Meleana Shim, who sent the ball in from the right side.

Kapaona scored the final goal on a scramble off a corner kick by Gusman a minute before the end of the game.

Yempuku and Nobriga said the team's passing contributed to its high scoring output.

"Everyone on our team wants to finish," Yempuku said. "We wanted to get a lead. The combinations worked. You don't see any one person scoring all the goals."

Nobriga added: "And no one's selfish."

MILILANI 1, PEARL CITY 0

Junior midfielder Natalie Wong scored her second goal of the tournament to lead the Trojans (13-1-1) to the final game for the fourth time in the past five years.

"Both teams knew it was going to be very close," said Mililani coach Ray Akiona said, who called the teams "friendly rivals."

Wong broke the scoreless stalemate in the 73rd minute when she juked a defender, pulling the ball behind her and cracking a left-footed shot above Pearl City goalkeeper Kari Miyasato's head.

"At first, when (Shelyce Ichimura) dropped the ball to me, I was going to shoot with my right foot," Wong said. "But the defender was blocking that so I had to pull it to my left foot. I knew if I had the shot I had to take it, because there wasn't a lot of time left."

Akiona said the Trojans wanted to "push the ball up" and keep it on their offensive half of the field, and that provided their goal-scoring chance.

After a slow first half, both teams had shots stopped by the crossbar early in the second half. Pearl City senior midfielder Anne Ochiae shot from the top of the penalty box, but her shot pinged off the bar in the 49th minute. Mililani senior midfielder Nicole Mitani's shot was blocked by Miyasato and hit the crossbar, before Miyasato scooped it up in the 51st minute.

"That's the way the ball bounced," Pearl City co-head coach Frank Baumholtz said. "We were trying to get good opportunities. We needed to be patient, but we started hurrying."

Otherwise, neither team had good shot chances. Mililani outshot Pearl City, 4-3.

In the 68th minute, sophomore forward Allison Kagawa broke free down the right flank, but her shot went wide left.

Pearl City had a chance to tie in the 74th minute on a free kick by junior midfielder Nestle Yamaguchi that Mililani goalkeeper Traci Kusaka batted out of bounds.

CONSOLATION

KONAWAENA 3, KAUA'I 1

Kirstee Biven scored two of the Wildcats three second-half goals. Grace Hedemann also scored for Konawaena (16-3). Rachael Taira scored for the Red Raiders (7-4).

KAISER 2, K. KEKAULIKE 0

Kehau Kim and Adrianna Kinhult scored in the second half for the Cougars (10-4-1), who will play Konawena for fifth place today. King Kekaulike is 10-3-3.

KS-HAWAI'I 5, HILO 0

Jessica Marote scored two first-half goals to lead the Warriors in game between two Big Island Interscholastic Federation teams. Tara Hottendorf, Mahina Costales and Amber Spencer also scored for Kamehameha-Hawai'i (14-4). The Warriors play Kalani (9-4-3) for seventh place today. Hilo finished 11-5.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.