The Pearl City girls soccer team mastered a rather difficult skill yesterday against Kealakehe: turning intended passes into goals.

Alix Suwa scored on a 35-yard free kick in the second half and Kelsie Ng added a goal on a corner kick as Pearl City beat Kealakehe, 2-0, in the first round of the JN Automotive Division I State Championships at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

"First half, we were average," Pearl City coach Frank Baumholtz said. "Second half, we got a little more focused and did what we do best and created a couple of opportunities and finally capitalized on them."

Pearl City, the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s No. 5 team, will play No. 2 seed and league rival Mililani in the quarterfinals tonight at 7.

The Chargers tied and lost to Mililani during the OIA Red West season.

In the 42nd minute yesterday, Suwa blasted a long free kick with the intention of finding a teammate. A collision between the oncoming Kealakehe goalie and a back-pedaling defender allowed the ball to find the back of the net. The ball deflected off one of the Waveriders players.

"I just tried to throw it into the back, but the ball went to the goal and I was really happy," said Suwa, a sophomore defender. "I was hoping someone would head the ball in."

Kealakehe first-year coach Jim Smith said his back line wasn’t positioned properly as Suwa’s kick headed toward the goal.

"My defense was too far back," he said. "I’d rather have them stay on the 18-(yard line). That’s why the first goal happened. It was a miscommunication thing."

In the 69th, Ng bent in a corner kick from the left side that deflected off the Waveriders goalie’s hands and sneaked in just inside of the near post.

Ng’s intention, like Suwa, was to connect with a teammate.

"I was trying to put it closer to the goal because my last one was too far out a little bit," said Ng, a senior midfielder.

Ng added she was looking for "anyone willing to head the ball in."

Kealakehe, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation runner-up, put up quite a fight in the final minutes.

In the 75th, the Waveriders’ Brittany Denzer got behind the defense, and her shot was smothered by Chargers goalie Manaia Siana-Unutoa, who had to come way off her line.

One minute later, McKenna Davidson’s 22-yard blast was saved by Siana-Unutoa, who laid out to her right.

"The last half-hour of our practices are usually really intense, and hopefully in the last 10 minutes of the game, it’ll get us a goal," said Smith, the Kealakehe coach. "That was the idea anyway."

Kamehameha-Maui 1, Kaiser 0

Junior Ashley Pundyke scored in the 61st minute to lift the Warriors into today’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal match with No. 1 seed Punahou, the defending state champion.

Kahuku 1, Moanalua 0

Junior midfielder Chantel Abregano snapped a scoreless tie in the 99th minute as the Red Raiders, the OIA’s No. 6 seed, upended Na Menehune, the OIA’s No. 2 seed.

‘Iolani 3, Kapolei 0

Senior forward Krystal Pascua scored two first-half goals to power the Raiders past the Hurricanes and into today’s 3 p.m. quarterfinal match with No. 3 Baldwin.

Pascua scored six minutes into the game and in the 30th minute, and freshman forward Shaye Villanueva tallied in the 21st minute as ‘Iolani built a 3-0 halftime lead.