Mililani sophomores Callie Mullen and Meagan Tamashiro have developed an undeniable connection over five years playing together.
With the Trojans’ hopes of defending their OIA Division I girls soccer title at stake, the duo delivered a “magical” moment in Thursday’s semifinal match with Pearl City.
After 80 scoreless minutes at Kapolei’s field, Mililani earned just its second corner kick of the match about six minutes into the first 10-minute overtime period. Tamashiro took the corner from the left of the goal and lobbed her kick in front of the net, where Mullen, her club teammate, was waiting.
Mullen put her forehead square on the ball, sending it into the net and propelling Mililani to a 1-0 win and into Saturday’s championship match at Kapolei.
“Me and Meagan have some sort of chemistry coming from club together, playing for how many years together … just magic,” Mullen said.
By avenging a regular-season loss to Pearl City, Mililani earned a berth in the OIA final for the 25th time in 37 years. The Trojans take their shot at a third straight title and their 17th overall in the championship match set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Pearl City edged Mililani 3-2 on Dec. 15 on its way to earning the top seed out of the OIA West at 10-0. Mililani dropped another match to Aiea and entered the postseason at 8-2 and as the division’s third seed.
“Our bond wasn’t there when we first played them, which kind of threw us off,” Mullen said. “We had a slow start that game. This game we were prepared — prepared for the pressure, prepared for everything. It was just a huge difference.”
The Trojans have yet to allow a goal in the playoffs after wins over Kahuku (6-0) and Castle (2-0) on Monday and Tuesday and Thursday’s shutout of a Pearl City team that had outscored its opponents 82-5.
“The ability for us to play well in the defensive structure that we had kind of slowed down their attack,” said Mililani coach Ray Akiona, who has led the program to seven OIA titles. “For a team like Pearl City that’s such an aggressive, offensive-minded team, we really had to focus on the defensive side.”
So perhaps it was appropriate a member of that defense ended up scoring the winning goal.
Mullen teamed with seniors Jodi Lillie and Karlin Wurlitzer and junior Quinn Nakasone to contain the Chargers attack and Tamashiro, a midfielder/forward who pushes 5 feet, delivered the biggest pass of the night.
“Meagan is very consistent,” Akiona said. “So when we have her serving that ball, we know Meagan’s going to put that ball where we need her to put it. She did it twice for us and she’s so accurate and so precise and it’s the way she plays all the time.”
Kaiser 4, Moanalua 1
Senior Kaile Halvorsen scored the Cougars’ first goal and assisted on the next and Kaiser advanced to the OIA final for the first time since 2014.
Halvorsen worked the ball to her right and fired a shot into the net to give Kaiser the lead in the 16th minute. She threatened again less than 10 minutes later, this time dropping a pass to Shaley Mercado, who finished to extend the lead to 2-0.
“Once she gets the ball there’s no telling what she’s going to do,” Kaiser coach Noelani Bio said of Halvorsen. “She’s so dynamic and she can either dish it out or take the shot. You never know what you’re going to get. She’s a true competitor.”
Maya Mau added a goal in the second half and Moanalua’s Alyssa Enoki got Na Menehune on the board with less than nine minutes left. Mercado answered with her second goal and Kaiser got payback for a 3-1 regular-season loss to Moanalua, the OIA East’s top seed, on Dec. 20.
The four semifinalists had already qualified for The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Girls Soccer Championships, which open Feb. 5. Waipahu and Aiea earned the OIA’s last two state tournament berths with wins in the fifth-place bracket on Wednesday.
