Kim sets up ‘Iolani’s state berth

‘Iolani senior Alyssa Kim’s knack for setting up her teammates put the Raiders in position for another shot at a state title.

Kim assisted on all of ‘Iolani’s goals in a 3-0 win over Kamehameha on Saturday that secured the Raiders a place in the Division I girls soccer state tournament.

"This is our fourth time going to the state tournament. It means everything to us to have another chance, at least," Kim said.

In her four years at ‘Iolani, Kim said she hadn’t experienced a win over the Warriors — who edged the Raiders in last year’s state final — prior to Saturday’s match at Eddie Hamada Field.

‘Iolani’s breakthrough to close its ILH schedule assured the Raiders (10-1-1) an opportunity to play for the state crown after finishing second the last two years.

"There is a sense of relief, but also just proud of all of them," ‘Iolani coach Kristin Masunaga said. "They played their hearts out, they clicked. We were connecting passes, we executed. They did everything we asked of them."

With one match left, Kamehameha (8-2-1) fell out of reach of returning to the state tournament and will close its season against Punahou (10-1) on Tuesday.

"We were in a must-win situation," Kamehameha coach Melissa Moore said. "For us, we just had to go for it."

The order of finish atop the ILH standings will be determined by Tuesday’s match. Punahou claims the ILH title and the seeded berth in the state tournament with a win. A Kamehameha win will give ‘Iolani the top spot. In the event of a tie, Punahou and ‘Iolani meet in a playoff match on Wednesday.

‘Iolani lost its opening-round match in the state tournament in 2010, then lost in the final to Punahou and Kamehameha the last two years, "so we want to win it for our seniors," Masunaga said.

The senior class includes Kim, who suffered a broken wrist a week earlier against Mid-Pacific. The padded cast didn’t weigh her down on Saturday. She set up the first goal of the match with about three minutes left in the first half when her free kick from the right side sailed just over the Kamehameha goalkeeper and fellow senior Taylor Kipilii was there to punch it into the net.

‘Iolani pulled away in the second half with Kim twice pushing the ball down the right side before centering it to seniors Ashley Park-Hunt and Kama Pascua for goals.

"That’s what we tell her to do, drive the line and slot it back and she’s so good at it," Masunaga said. "She’s fast, she’s strong and she gets it done."

With the Warriors chasing, Moore said they pushed forward to try to create scoring opportunities which left them vulnerable when ‘Iolani got the ball downfield.

"We don’t typically push that many numbers forward," Moore said. "That’s just something we had to do. We had discussed that prior to the game, where if we got into a situation where we were down we were going to push numbers up."