Senior Alex Lam’s booming 40-yard, left-footed blast from the right sideline trickled off the fingertips of goalkeeper Josh Adachi as Punahou edged ‘Iolani 1-0 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys soccer before a crowd of 250 at Eddie Hamada Field.
The Raiders had one last chance, a penalty kick by Jordan Lee after a foul by Lam in the box as time expired. Lee guessed right as he approached the ball, just 10 yards from goal, as goalkeeper Julian Juarez went to his right. Lee’s kick, however, rolled wide right of the post.
“I feel stressed. I’m not too sure my heart can take that too many times,” said Punahou coach David Trifonovitch, who was aware that Buffanblu fans were irate about the foul call that led to Lee’s opportunity.
“Hopefully, fate was meant to be. Even with the call, we still managed to win,” he said.
The win pushed the Buffanblu (4-1) into a first-place tie with Kamehameha and dropped previously unbeaten ‘Iolani (3-1-1) into second place. The top two ILH finishers will earn state-tournament berths.
“I thought we settled down in the second half and played harder,” Lam said. “The first half, we came out kind of flat. We needed to dig in and see who wanted it more. It’s either we dig and want it or we let it slip away. This is a big win for us, coming off the loss to Kamehameha.”
Lam’s goal sliced toward the left and fell into the net just inside the post in the 59th minute. That was the only blemish in what was still a spectacular performance by Adachi, a 6-foot-3 sophomore. The two play together in the offseason for the Honolulu Bulls.
“The adrenaline was going, I just felt good,” Lam said. “We were looking to make a deep throw-in, but I came up to get the (short throw-in). (Adachi) is the best goalkeeper in the state. He got fingertips on it. It had a little bend to the outside.”
Adachi, who blasted the ball 60 to 70 yards regularly from the box, is eager to move on.
“I’m a little disappointed, the team worked hard and we gave it everything. Great strike by Alex,” Adachi said. “Hopefully, we pull together and we’ll come back.”
The Buffanblu have scorers in Quintin Love and Quincy Marting, but Lam has become a valuable asset.
“The last two games, he’s taken this team on his shoulders and got us a win,” Trifonovitch said of the team captain. “At Mid-Pac, we (couldn’t score but) dominated and he said forget it and got us a goal. Today, he got us that shot and another win for us.”
“We played well enough to deserve some points out of today’s game. They took their chances better than we did today,” ‘Iolani coach Chris Lee said. “First half, we played better. Second half, they won a lot of air balls and second balls than we did. They took us out of our game. They’re bigger and taller than us. We needed to maintain composure and knock the ball down.”
The Raiders had opportunities in the first half. Micah Cabagbag and Kasey Chun both missed shots off the crossbar. Chun’s miss, in the 35th minute, landed in front of the goal, where defender Ian Matsukawa promptly sent it out of bounds as Punahou avoided damage.
Punahou’s best first-half scoring opportunity came on a 15-yard rip by Lam that was net-bound before Adachi came flying to deflect it over the goal.
Punahou’s defense locked down on the quick Raiders after halftime, buoyed by Lam’s stunning goal.
“It’s a tough angle, coming high over (Adachi). It was a fantastic shot. I haven’t seen one like that in a long time,” Trifonovitch said.
The home team didn’t get a clean look again until the 68th minute, when Lee broke ahead in the middle of the box. His sliding lefty shot from 12 yards out rolled wide left.
The match ended the first run-through of the ILH schedule for both teams. Punahou will host Pac-Five on Friday. ‘Iolani will entertain Mid-Pacific, also on Friday.
