Youth and an extremely lean bench have forced Kaiser’s soccer players to play in a multitude of positions. The Cougars are adapting and having no problem finding the back of the net.

The Cougars scored with abandon in a 7-1 win over Castle in an OIA East boys soccer game on Saturday at Kaiser Stadium.

Kaiser, the defending OIA champion, improved to 3-1-0 with Kevin Anderson and Chandler Furukawa scoring two goals each. The Knights are 2-2-0.

"We tell them to be multidimensional so anybody can play any position," said Kaiser coach Marco Antonio Gloria. "We’ve been training them all summer. It’s something new we’ve never done before.

"Now we can play them all over, so they’re coming really well at being multidimensional."

Injuries and several players on a trip left the Cougars with just one field player and one goalkeeper on its bench for Saturday’s match. The Cougars have six freshmen on the roster, many seeing playing time this season with the thin lineup.

"If you go too hard the whole game, you’re going to lose your energy," said freshman Motoki Sato, who scored a goal for the Cougars. "You need to maintain how you want to spend your energy on the field, so you have to be careful about that. We only have one sub."

Anderson struck first for the Cougars in the 27th minute, driving down the left sideline and shooting across into the goal. Freshman Brian Arseneau’s goal made it 2-0 in the 34th minute and Furukawa added to the lead after drawing a foul in the box when he collided with Castle’s goalkeeper while going after the ball. He was awarded a penalty kick and converted in the 37th minute.

Seniors Furukawa and Anderson have been versatile enough to move from center back to forward for the Cougars. Freshman Noah Mokulehua played the entire second half as the goalkeeper. He’s usually a midfielder, played with an injury and is part of a freshman class that’s contributing to the lineup.

"It’s pretty overwhelming," Sato said. "It’s a lot of pressure when you’re a freshman. You got to think positive and play together as a team. They (upperclassmen) motivate us a lot."

The Cougars added four more goals in the second half. In the 50th minute, Anderson delivered a cross from the left corner to Matthew Sai, who headed the ball in front of the goal. Anderson scored two minutes later to extend the lead to 5-0. Furukawa and Sato scored in the final 10 minutes.

Job Maldonado scored for Castle with about five minutes left in the match, getting a shot off after a scramble in the box.

Kaiser girls win

Kai Hasegawa scored in the 31st minute to help the Cougars beat Castle 1-0. Taylor Tani passed the ball from the right sideline to Hasegawa at the top of the 18-yard box. With just one defender on her in an empty box, Hasegawa shot the ball past the goalkeeper, who charged out.

"I was planning to take another touch, but when the keeper came out I figured I had to shoot," Hasegawa said.

Her goal held up against a Castle (2-1-2) team that outshot Kaiser (4-1-0). The Knights couldn’t convert on several opportunities inside the box with less than 20 minutes remaining, including a shot from the top of the box that sailed over an undefended goal.