The Kalani High School girls soccer team left yesterday's game against Castle with a win and more work to do.

Rosie Chinen scored the game's only goal to lead Kalani to a 1-0 win over Castle in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East game.

With the regular season ending next week, the host Falcons (10-0-1) attempted to try new things to prepare for the postseason, in which they have clinched the OIA East's top seed. However, things didn't pan out as hoped.

"We were trying to do some new things for preparation for future games," Kalani coach Myles Arakawa said. "We're trying to put more things into our offensive sets. We went into this game wanting to do certain things and we didn't do them."

Those plays worked in practices last week.

"We still have a lot more work to do," Chinen said. "It's not exactly the way we want it yet. We just have to make it second nature."

Chinen scored midway through the first half on a long cross sent from about 35 yards out on the left side of the field. Castle goalkeeper Briann Wong went up for the ball, which went through her hands. The ball broke the plane of the goal and Wong threw it back out.

"We thought it went in, but the goalie scooped it back out," Chinen pointed out.

Kalani's Trisha Tengan then took a shot in front of the goal but it was cleared by Castle's Allison Hirata.

Officials then signaled it was a score by Chinen.

Castle, which had just two available players off the bench, played mostly defense against Kalani for the entire game. The Knights (2-8-0) had just four shots — all in the second half, but nearly capitalized on one of them late in the game.

On a clear from Kalani's offensive side of the field, the ball dropped into Castle's side. Shayla Hosaka gained control of the ball, but her attempt went just wide of the goal.

The Knights got possession back for the ensuing corner kick, but couldn't convert with seven minutes left.

"I thought we played well enough defensively," Castle coach Mark Kane said. "We created a couple of scoring opportunities. We were able to handle most of the things they threw at us."

Wong was praised by Kane for her composure. Kalani had several good looks in the second half, including point-blank attempts that just missed.

"I thought she did a good job responding," Kane said. "She could have fell apart after the first goal, but she kept us in the game."

Ever since the Falcons qualified for the state tournament in 2006, their first since 2001, the team has emerged as a serious contender in the league.

"Everyone is working together as a team and everyone pushes each other to work harder," Tengan said.

Kalani's Tani Costa, who leads the league with 17 goals, didn't play because of a vacation.

Reach Stanley Lee at sktlee@honoluluadvertiser.com.