As Mililani senior Kristen Fujinaga lined up an overtime penalty kick, field 6 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park became eerily silent.
Seconds later, that silence was replaced by a thunderous roar from the Trojans cheering section.
Fujinaga’s kick got past a diving Mika Natori to give Mililani a 3-2 victory over Kapolei in the opening round of the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships on Wednesday.
"It was very nerve-wracking," said Fujinaga, whose goal came 3 minutes into the extra period. "Taking the PK determines a win or a loss and I’m just really grateful that we got it in and we won."
Juniors TJ Reyno and Shyani Terukina also scored for the Trojans (11-2-1), who advance to play No. 4 seed Kealakehe in the quarterfinals today at 3.
"Kapolei is a really strong team and for us to stay even with them, we were happy in the first half," Mililani coach Ray Akiona said. "We were able to capitalize on a goal opportunity and I think our spirits lifted and it gave us the confidence to go back and play a better second half."
Mililani never led until the game-winning goal as Kapolei (9-4-1) took the lead two different times in the first half.
Sophomore Arielle Stoyanow put the Hurricanes ahead early, drilling a shot off the crossbar that bounced back into the goal 12 minutes in.
Reyno answered 1 minute later to tie the score at 1, but the Hurricanes retook the lead when Hailey Berg drilled a free kick over the head of starting Mililani goalkeeper Lauren Ishii.
Kapolei’s 2-1 halftime lead could have been bigger, but a goal was taken off the board on a late foul call that was never explained to Kapolei coach Brian Beck.
"It was absolutely ridiculous and I’m not ashamed to say it," said Beck, who asked for an explanation at halftime. "Every time we play Mililani something like this happens where we’ll score, we get it called back, we score, we get it called back."
Terukina tied the game at 2-all with a goal in the 47th minute, heading in a rebound off a corner kick.
Both teams had scoring chances near the end of regulation, but couldn’t convert, sending the game into overtime.
Just 3 minutes into the extra period, Reyno dribbled past two Kapolei defenders and was one-on-one with the goalie when a defender fouled her in the penalty box to set up the winning goal.
"She kind of had to make that foul," Beck said. "One-on-one against the goalie in that situation you have to make that play."
The Trojans went undefeated in regular-season play, but limped into the state tournament after losing twice in the OIA playoffs and finishing fourth.
"I know everyone was down and depressed going through the OIAs because we thought we would take it," Fujinaga said. "I think the girls just need motivation and we push each other to the end and were able to come out with the win."
Akiona said the Trojans will likely be without Ishii, their starting goalkeeper, for the rest of the tournament. She was injured in a collision early in the game and left the game shortly after giving up Kapolei’s second goal.
Backup Cortney Wilson replaced Ishii and is expected to start today.
Kamehameha-Maui 2, Kaiser 1
Makana Pundyke and Lily Higashino both scored in the first 10 minutes of the second half to help the Warriors (11-2-2) advance to tonight’s quarterfinals against top seed Kamehameha.
Callie Akazawa scored in the eighth minute to give the Cougars (11-2-1) the early lead.
@Scoreline1:Pearl City 2, Konawaena 1, 2 OT
Prishaan Carter-Amorin scored four minutes into the second overtime to give the Chargers (10-1-4) the victory.
Sara Ng also scored for Pearl City, which will play No. 2 seed Moanalua today at 5.
Jasmine Ward scored Konawaena’s only goal in the 47th minute.
‘Iolani 7, Aiea 1
Kama Pascua scored twice and six other Raiders each found the back of the net as ‘Iolani (10-0-3) remained undefeated this season and will play third-seeded Baldwin today at 1.
Pascua’s first goal was the Raiders’ third in the first 9 minutes. Amanda McCaskill, Alyssa Kim, Sarah Oyadomari, Dana Lim and Nyki Mitsuyasu also scored for the Raiders.
Raisa Storm-Okimoto scored for Na Alii (6-9) in the 73rd minute.
DIVISION II TOURNAMENT
Radford, Kapaa, Kalaheo, Makua Lani advance
Abigail Granger scored in overtime to lift Radford past Kamehameha-Hawaii 1-0 on Wednesday in the first round of the Division II tournament.
Radford will play top seed Mid-Pacific at 3 p.m. today on field 9.
In other games Wednesday, Kapaa beat Seabury Hall 3-0; Kalaheo got two goals from Kiana Forsythe and defeated Honokaa 4-3; and Makua Lani Christian won 4-3 on penalty kicks over Leilehua, which got two goals from Karly Shigeoka.
