It’s the AYSO philosophy come to life: Everyone has a chance to win.

Aiea went from sixth place in the OIA to the Division I championship match of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships with a 2-1 win over Kapolei in the semifinals at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Friday.

Aiea, which was shut out by Kapolei 2-0 in the regular season, went into halftime down by a goal but roared back with two in the second half. Leah Pajimula intercepted a clearing pass off a corner kick and blasted a hot shot that bounced off the crossbar and into the goal in the 73rd minute to give Na Alii the lead. Keani Napu’unoa served up the winning goal.

"We don’t really work on corners," Aiea coach Benji Villaflor said. "We just want to get the ball in there. It is real hectic for the goal keeper, anything can happen."

Anything indeed. Even Aiea, which has never won a state title in girls soccer, getting to the final.

Raisa Strom-Okimoto scored the equalizer in the 70th minute off a free kick when Kelli Fryxell, who had drawn three fouls previously, hit the ground above the penalty box but had this call go against her. Strom-Okimoto then drilled a shot over the wall and into the cross bar, watching it rocket straight down to the ground and into Kapolei keeper Arielle Stoyanow’s arms but over the plane.

It was Strom-Okimoto’s sixth shot of the half, and she knew that with each miss a hit was sure to follow. She finished the OIA season second in goals scored behind Waianae’s Sonest Furtado.

"Confidence is always key," Strom-Okimoto said. "Even if you miss you have to come back and get it. If not you are not even going to have any shots. If I didn’t have confidence I wouldn’t have gotten that far."

Paige Mahuka gave Kapolei the first goal in the 12th minute when Fryxell beat the Aiea keeper to the ball in the middle of the box and ran into her. The ball squirted up into the air after the collision and straight to Mahuka, who headed it into the open net.

The Hurricanes were riding high at that point, knowing that they turtled up after scoring early against ‘Iolani in the quarterfinals and relied on Stoyanow to close it out. That wasn’t the strategy against Aiea, but it worked out that way. Na Alii outshot Kapolei 7-2 in the second half after being outshot 10-7 in the first.

"We got into playing how we did (on Thursday)," Kapolei coach Brian Beck said. "I told them at halftime, ‘You simply can’t play like that for another half.’ You go to the well too many times, it is going to run dry. We are going to come out here (today) and finish strong, I want them to finish as high as they can in the state."

Goal scorers: Aiea–Raisa Strom-Okimoto (70:10), Leah Pajimula (73:09). Kapolei–Paige Mehuka (12:58).