Hawaii Prep’s dynasty is intact.
Ka Makani won their fourth straight Division II crown in The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships with a 1-0 victory over Kapaa on Saturday night.
“If you had told me in November that we would be here now, I would have thought you were drunk,” Hawaii Prep coach Stephen Perry said while his team accepted the trophy on the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium field. “We had so many new faces and young players. And we started the year really slow.”
It was a matchup of neighbor island powers, and for much of the contest, Hawaii Prep maintained its dominance by controlling the pace, time of possession and field position. In the last 20 minutes of the second half, however, the Warriors put on heavy pressure but could not create any glaring chances.
“We knew it (Kapaa’s pushback) was coming,” Perry said. “Kapaa is athletic and they have a lot of firepower. This is seven or eight games in a row that have been one-goal games for us and we’ve pulled it out. We got a goal early and (the Ka Makani girls) know how to shut it down.”
The Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion and second-seeded Warriors (13-2) found some early success in defending against Big Island Interscholastic Federation D-II champ and top-seeded Ka Makani (11-2-2). Their trap defense caused Hawaii Prep to go offside four times.
But eventually Ka Makani broke through. In the 31st minute, Hawaii Prep’s long, high free kick was trapped by Emi Higgins deep in the box and she gave a quick turn against a defender and shot the ball into the far left corner to make it 1-0.
Nygeria Williams, the Kapaa goalkeeper, kept Ka Makani from adding to the lead with some sharp saves, including a blistering shot by Kahele Walsh and a dangerous attempt by Sofia Aguilar on a cross from Teah Van Bergen.
The Warriors did not have any glaring scoring chances, but got tough overall performances by fullback Kela Wood, midfielder Kaisha Davis-Caberto and forward Talia Washington.
“I’m very happy,” said Kapaa coach Mytra McKeague, who was a player in 1998 when the Warriors lost to Punahou 2-0 in the state final. “They are a great bunch of girls and being here in the final is a big thing. There’s big lights that they’re not used to, but they were fine once they got the jitters out.”
Third place
Seabury Hall 1, Pac-Five 0
Fifth place
Makua Lani 5, Waipahu 0
