Mid-Pacific caps 3-peat

Throw out the records when the Mid-Pacific and Hawaii Prep girls soccer teams play.

Really, throw out the records. They mean nothing.

The Owls won their third straight Division II title with a 2-0 win Saturday over Hawaii Prep at the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

The Owls, who play the ILH’s Division I powers in the regular season, improved to 7-7-1, while Ka Makani dropped to 12-2-1.

"This was probably the best game we have played all year right here," Mid-Pacific coach Dave Pai said. "From start to finish, every girl who played played really well. We have 12 seniors and they kind of knew that this was the end."

Mid-Pacific won it 3-2 over Kauai in 2010 and 1-0 over Hawaii Prep last year. The Owls have won the last three state championships, going 9-0 in tournament games in that span with 24 goals and only six against.

Forwards Taylor Higa and Julie Khil have been a big part of the entire run, leading the team in scoring in each of the last four years.

"Me and Taylor work really well together," Khil said. "She can kick really good. I always look to distribute to her because she has a great foot. It’s amazing."

Mid-Pacific needed 31 minutes to finally break through in an end-to-end game when Jenna Richards caught Ka Makani’s defense unaware with a bouncing through-ball to Khil at the top of the box. Hawaii Prep keeper Morgan Monahan sprinted from her position in the net to intercept the ball before Khil could get to it, but was a split-second too late.

Khil took the ball off Monahan’s fingertips and watched it settle into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

"That was just a beautiful pass," Pai said. "We saw the hole open up and she split a great ball through the defenders."

Monahan nearly lost another goal a few minutes later, but her defense bailed her out before ZoeAnn Kon could get a foot on it.

The Owls scored their second goal in the 37th minute when Khil got another run and worked the ball to Higa. Higa and Khil played catch one more time, with Hawaii Prep’s defense chasing the ball with each touch, until Higa ended the game of cat-and-mouse with a hard shot that beat Monahan.

"Julie is like my right-hand man," Higa said. "They gave us a good run, but in the end we did good. It’s awesome."

Higa’s goal made up for a near miss in the 20th minute when she took a free kick at the top of the box and bounced her shot off the crossbar and straight to the ground inches in front of the goal line.

Monahan pounced on it and smothered it with her belly to end the threat.

Monahan was under fire again in the second half, opening the period with a save on a point-blank shot. The Owls never allowed Monahan rest, letting Ka Makani outshoot them 8-5 in the first half but turning it around to an 11-8 advantage in the second when convention says to sit back and protect the lead.

Still, Hawaii Prep’s defense held.

"Down two, we put three girls up top and it was hard to get it out of there," Hawaii Prep coach Stephen Perry said. "For those kids, some of them have not played a lot of soccer back there, but they battled. The goalie, too, she grew up a lot today."

Mid-Pacific will have to move on without 12 seniors but will get back keeper Sarah Poppinga, who had nine saves, along with Kon and Kayla Watanabe.

Expect to see them return to the tournament next year, regardless of how much Punahou, Kamehameha and ‘Iolani beat them up during the season.

"Hopefully we will go for four," Pai said. "We might have to rebuild a little bit, but I don’t like to call it rebuilding because we have a lot of girls on the bench who are very good."