Laguana’s header gives Mililani double-OT win

With one minute remaining in the second of two 10-minute overtime periods, Mililani senior captain Jeremy Laguana headed in the game-winning goal to propel the Trojans past Kahuku 3-2 in the quarterfinal round of the OIA Red boys soccer playoffs Wednesday at Kaiser High.

Following 80 minutes of regulation play and 19 minutes of overtime, Ryan Carlomany lobbed a throw-in from about 20 yards out to the center of the goal box, and found a sprinting Laguana who headed the ball into the top right corner of the net, just beyond the reach of Red Raiders goalie Wesley Piena.

"It was a set play, we work on that every day at practice, and I just had that adrenaline pumping and was able to run up and head it in," Laguana said. "To be honest, we weren’t prepared for such a tough game from Kahuku. We had to come out hard in that last 10 minutes of overtime."

The Trojans now advance to face the winner oflast night’s other quarterfinal matchup between Kalani and Campbellin a semifinal contest today at 5:30 p.m. at Kaiser. By making it to the semifinals, Mililani is guaranteed one of the OIA’s six berths into the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships slated for Feb. 6-9 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park. Kahuku must make its way to the OIA tourney’s consolation final in order to crack the top six and earn a spot at states.

Mililani (10-0-1) entered the match with fresh legs after enjoying a first-round bye, while Kahuku advanced to yesterday’s contest after downing Radford on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie through 100 minutes on Tuesday. The Trojans sported their signature bleached-blond hairdos and took a 1-0 first-half lead as Zachary Carvalho hooked a cross to Evan Wilson, who deposited the shot between the posts in the 32nd minute. Mililani appeared poised to put the match away in the 50th minute as Tyler Braunthal connected with Carlomany, who streaked down the middle of the field and beat Piena to give the white-clad squad a 2-0 advantage.

Kahuku (7-4-1) did not fold, however, and countered with two goals from striker Kekahu Aluli, including a successful penalty kick in the 73rd minute to tie the game after the Trojans were called for a hand ball in the penalty area. Despite being outshot 21-8 in the match, the Red Raiders received a handful of crucial saves from Piena down the stretch and throughout the two extra periods before Laguana’s header ended the upset bid.

"We knew that with Mililani, as good a team that they are, there were some ways we could work on them and disrupt their playmaking," said Kahuku skipper Richard Oei. "We have one go-to guy and that’s Kekahu, and he’s really hard to contain, so we were able to equalize and were hoping to go all the way to penalty kicks (which would have followed the second overtime), because we knew we would have had a chance.

"They worked their hearts out; I haven’t seen them work as hard as this in a long time. That was an awesome game."

Oei also praised his goalkeeper, whose diving stops and booming goal kicks bolstered the Red Raiders defense, which was constantly tested by Mililani’s potent offensive attack.

"Wesley was awesome, he was on it today, and he would not let them go without a fight," Oei said. "But in the second overtime, and with as many minutes as we’ve played in the last two days, it’s going to take its toll."

The Trojans have now outscored opponents 51-4 through 11 OIA contests, and entered this year’s playoffs with the goal of defending their OIA Red and state titles. Mililani is also looking to build on an impressive run of league championships, which includes 13 titles in 18 years and four OIA crowns in five seasons under coach Jeff Yamamoto.

"We thought we had this game in the bag, but they came back and scored two goals," said Laguana of his team’s apparent letdown after taking the early lead. "We still have to play teams that are 10 times better than Kahuku, so we need to be better prepared for that. We’re happy that we’re going to states, so as our coaches say, we need to take each hurdle as it comes."

Pearl City 3, Moanalua 0

Andrew Tanaka, Carter Casuga and Christian Nakabayashi each found the back of the net as the Chargers blanked Na Menehune. With the win, Pearl City moves on to today’s 7 p.m. semifinal against Kapolei at Kaiser while Moanalua drops into today’s 5:30 p.m. fifth-place semifinal against Kaiser at Kailua.

Kapolei 3, Kaiser 2 OT

CJ Harvey scored twice and Dylan Orian added a goal as the Hurricanes upended the Cougars in overtime. Kaiser received goals from Cody Kuge and Edson Gonzalez in the loss.

OIA WHITE

Farrington 3, Waianae 0

The Governors got goals from Jansen Wong, John Caridad and Justin Tamashiro in their win over the Seariders. Farrington, which qualified for the HHSAA State Tournament with the win moves on to the 5:30 p.m. championship match vs. Kalaheo on Friday at Kaiser.

Kalaheo 4, McKinley 0

A hat trick by Cody Inagaki and a goal from Tyler Williams led the Mustangs to a whitewashing of the Tigers.