Here they come again. The ‘Iolani girls are one step away from a second straight run to the ultimate Hawaii high school soccer prize.
Mia Watanabe scored in the first minute of the second half and that slim lead held up Friday night in a 1-0 victory over Mililani in the Division I semifinals of The Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships.
Now, ‘Iolani has a chance to become a state champion as an unseeded team for the second year in a row. The school is going for a sixth title in the final tonight against Pearl City at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
After a scoreless half, the Raiders put on their wings after the break. Sasha Asselbaye sent a pass on the right wing to Watanabe, who broke past a surprised Trojans defense and unleashed a hard shot. Despite having a look at the netting on both sides, Watanabe shot directly at goalkeeper Sydni Nakamura, who got both hands on the ball above her head before it dropped into the goal.
“Sasha, who played it to me, we like to work together a lot,” Watanabe said. “She gave me a perfect ball. I couldn’t have done it without the ball. We’re really excited. We’ve had to persevere a lot this season and played a lot of games to get here and it took a lot of team will and hard work, so hopefully we can pull it off tomorrow and get the result we want.”
In the first half, ‘Iolani controlled the action until the final 10 minutes, when the Trojans nearly went ahead on a three-pass play from Callie Mullen to Kira Nishiki to Meagan Tamashiro to Hannah Gamble, who banged a shot off the crossbar.
Just before the break, the Raiders (14-3-1) were unable to convert on a golden chance in which Cecilia Jenkins broke free in the box but could not get a shot off.
The closest the Trojans (12-1-2) came to tying it up came on a high bouncing ball that Amber Tadeo-Gilbert got a foot on, but the ball went directly into the hands of diving ‘Iolani goalkeeper Musuai Isaia.
“The world moves on,” Mililani defender Karlin Wurlitzer said. “The only thing we can do is try to bounce back for the third-place game. There’s nothing much we can do to change it. We can try to pick up the underclassmen for next year and they can work toward it again.”
Raiders coach Kristin Masunaga felt the play of her team’s back line was crucial in the victory.
“Kelsie (Wong) is the anchor in the middle and she does a great job of directing them,” she said. “Taylor (Arakaki) and TV (Taylor Venenciano) are smart and experienced players. In the last 15 minutes, I thought we were a little panicky with Taylor Arakaki coming out with an injury. I thought she was playing a great game, but the subs did a great job stepping up.”
Mililani, the previously undefeated OIA champion, is out of the running for a fifth state title.
“They (Raiders) came out strong in the first five minutes of the second half and got that goal, so there it goes,” Mililani coach Ray Akiona said. “After that it was a matter of back and forth, back and forth. We had opportunities and we penetrated, but we just didn’t get that real clear shot and they cleared the ball out every time.”
DIVISION I GLANCE
FRIDAY
Semifinals
>> ‘Iolani 1, Mililani 0
>> Pearl City 2, Kaiser 1, PK (3-2)
Fifth-place semifinals
>> Kamehameha 1, King Kekaulike 0
>> Hilo 3, Kamehameha-Maui 0
Goalscorers: KSK—Kaulana Kanno. HILO—Jordyn Pacheco, Miya Clarke, Kalamanamana Harman
SATURDAY
>> Fifth place: Kamehameha vs. Hilo, 3 p.m., field 7
>> Third place: Mililani vs. Kaiser, 3 p.m., field 8
>> Championship: ‘Iolani vs. Pearl City, 7 p.m., main stadium
