Kaiser moves into final

The top seeds from the East and West divisions will collide for the OIA Red girls soccer championship.

Jaylin Swartz put the Cougars on the board first with a goal in the 15th minute and Noelle Mercado punctuated the win with a second-half score as host Kaiser advanced to the OIA Red final with a 2-0 victory over Pearl City on Thursday night.

The Cougars (11-0-1) will face Mililani (11-0-1), the OIA West regular season champions, tonight at 7 for the Red title and a first-round bye in the state tournament.

The game will be televised on OC16 (Ch. 12).

"The girls are real close, they all get along, and that’s the No. 1 thing," Kaiser coach Adolph Samuels said. "The chemistry with the girls, they play so well together and they work well together both on and off the field."

The Trojans will play for their fourth OIA Red crown in the past five seasons, while Kaiser is looking for its first OIA girls soccer title of any kind since 1997.

It’s the first trip to the finals for Samuels in his 12 years as head coach.

"I always tell the girls there’s a monkey on our backs because (Pearl City) knocks us out (of the playoffs) every time," Samuels said. "I think we played them four times (in the playoffs) and they knocked us out all the time, so to finally win one and get a chance to play in the championship, that is so big for our program."

The Cougars have outscored their opponents 6-1 in the playoffs and have won 10 consecutive games after handing the Chargers (7-1-4) their first loss of the season.

Swartz made the big play early, taking advantage of a loose ball near the top of the box with a strong left-footed kick that went screaming into the net.

"The ball was bobbling around in the box and I just shot it with all my might with my left foot," Swartz said.

Swartz is one of six seniors on the Cougars’ roster.

"We’ve never made it this far in a long time and it’s my senior year so we’re ready to show what we’ve got," Swartz said.

Both teams attempted seven shots, but the Cougars did a better job converting their opportunities.

Mercado put the game away in the second half after Kaiser took control of the ball off an errant pass.

A crossing pass bounced off one Cougar directly to the foot of Mercado, who easily finished the shot in the 53rd minute for a 2-0 lead.

Kaiser goalkeeper Corina Edgington preserved the shutout with a leaping save off a free kick that she caught just underneath the cross bar.

Mililani will have the experience advantage in tonight’s final.

"(Mililani) is a well-rounded team with talent all over the place and when they sub they have no drop off," Samuels said. "It’ll be a big, big challenge to play against them."