‘Iolani trips Kamehameha for a state-tournament berth

The ‘Iolani boys soccer team hasn’t lost all season, and it wasn’t about to suffer its first defeat with a state berth on the line.

KJ Ahlo and Timmy Leong scored goals and the Raiders beat Kamehameha 2-1 yesterday at Kamehameha to earn the ILH’s second state berth.

‘Iolani (6-0-4) could have won its first ILH title since 2009, but settled for second place when Punahou (7-1-2) beat Saint Louis on Tuesday.

Kamehameha (5-3-2) needed to beat ‘Iolani outright to take the second spot.

"We have been getting a lot of ties recently and we finally caught a break," Leong said. "I think it was our energy level. It was a do-or-die situation and obviously we did it."

‘Iolani did it without its best player. All-State keeper Josh Adachi didn’t play after injuring his foot at practice on Monday. Junior Nick Liu stepped in and stifled the Warriors, including a stop in the final minutes in which he plucked the ball off the head of Kamehameha attacker Kona Gaison. Gaison booted the ball in for the apparent tie when Liu fumbled the ball after coming down with it, but the referee had already blown his whistle on the contact and waved the tying goal off.

"We told them all they needed to do is whatever it took to get the success we needed," ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee said. "He (Liu) did a fine job."

The Raiders scored in the 22nd minute when Max Ching skipped a ball from 40 yards out that eluded the keeper and moved straight to KJ Ahlo, who punched it in from the line.

The Warriors fought back as Keola Norton scored eight minutes later off a corner kick.

The Raiders had the goal sealed off, but Norton dove cleats-first at the wall and powered the ball into the goal along with half of ‘Iolani’s defense.

‘Iolani answered three minutes later when Leong blasted one through from point blank off a corner kick. Both of ‘Iolani’s goals came off set plays, where they could take advantage of the Warriors’ young defense. Kamehameha was whistled for 14 fouls to ‘Iolani’s nine, and the Warriors drew stern lectures from the center referee more than once.

"They outplayed us today," Kamehameha coach Jorge Barbosa said. "I think my boys tried very hard, but if we would have had the same effort today as we had against Punahou I think we would have taken them."

The Warriors beat Punahou to start a run to third place, and tied ‘Iolani 1-1 earlier in the year.

The Warriors will miss the state tournament for the fourth time in the last five years, while ‘Iolani goes in as the ILH’s second best, just as it did last year.