After spending the evening protecting her net, Kahuku goalkeeper Carrie Kamakaala found herself with an opportunity to take a shot with a state tournament berth at stake.
Kamakaala hadn’t taken a penalty kick in a match until she stepped to the ball Thursday night at Kailua. The junior then drilled her shot into the left side of the goal to give Kahuku the 1-0 victory over Kapolei and life beyond the OIA Red playoffs.
"I usually don’t take them, I haven’t ever taken one, actually," said Kamakaala, whose shot gave the Red Raiders a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks and ended the match.
"It was a really big surprise to me to be one of the five, especially the last person. But it seemed to work out."
Kahuku (7-3-3) will play in the OIA Red fifth-place game today at Kailua and secured one of the OIA’s six spots in the Division I state tournament with Thursday’s win. A night after dropping into the consolation bracket with a 3-0 quarterfinal loss to Mililani, the Red Raiders played Kapolei to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtime periods before earning the program’s sixth state tournament berth.
"It was a battle all year long," Kahuku coach Glenn Fujita said. "I told the girls we played like Jekyll and Hyde. We had some really good games and some real awful games. The girls really pulled together tonight. We were playing a very good Kapolei team tonight and we just told them to play with the heart of a lion."
Kapolei ended its season at 7-4-2, losing its final two matches of the OIA tournament in penalty kicks. The Hurricanes played two overtimes before losing in penalty kicks in a quarterfinal game against Moanalua on Wednesday, then went the distance again on Thursday.
"I just think over this season they did a wonderful job, they did what I asked of them," Kapolei coach Brian Beck said. "Playing two nights in a row all the way to PKs I think just took a little bit of a toll. They played hard. We had some great opportunities, Kahuku had some great opportunities. Unfortunately the past two nights we had some breakaways and the goals just didn’t fall."
Kamakaala and Kapolei goalkeeper Mika Natori didn’t let anything past them through regulation and two overtime periods.
"It was going to take something special to get it by either of them tonight," Beck said.
Kapolei controlled the action for much of the first half, forcing Kamakaala to make a leaping save to tip a shot over the crossbar late in the half.
Kahuku took a turn as the aggressor after halftime then held off Kapolei surges just before the end of regulation. Kahuku made the strongest threats at ending the match in the overtime periods, with Renee Oei putting pressure on Natori three times without finding the goal.
The teams were tied 3-3 through the first four rounds of penalty kicks when Kapolei’s fifth attempt went high, giving Kamakaala —a junior transfer from Kamehameha — a chance to end the match.
"During the practice sessions she’s dead on, she didn’t miss," Fujita said. "You want a person you trust the most in that last position."
Kamakaala rewarded that trust, and kept herself from having to go back into goal, with her shot into the corner.
"It just happened so fast," Kamakaala said. "One moment you’re in goal and then you have to think about how you’re going to take the shot. It’s really big for me."
Waianae 2, Castle 1, PK
Waianae goalkeeper Sarah Inafuku made two saves in the shootout and contributed the Seariders’ first goal of penalty kicks, and the Seariders earned the OIA Red’s final state tournament berth by edging the Knights.
Waianae (8-5-1) plays Kahuku for fifth place today at 4 p.m. at Kailua.
Waianae took the lead early in the second half when Sonest Furtado scored off a rebound in front of the goal. Castle tied it up off a free kick about midway through the half.
Inafuku stopped Castle’s first attempt in the shootout and made another with Waianae leading 3-2. Kezia Ramos then made her shot to give Waianae the win.
