Kalani soccer tops Kapolei on PKs to reach final

Kalani’s Kota Nakayama didn’t play a single minute of scoreless regulation or overtime, but he came through when the Falcons needed him most.

In the eighth round of penalty kicks in Thursday night’s OIA boys soccer semifinal match against Kapolei, Nakayama sent a shot halfway up into the right side of the net for a one-goal PK lead.

But the drama was not over. The Hurricanes had one more chance to tie and Quinn Thierbach — a stout defender throughout the whole match — stepped up to the line. His shot, however, went too high, giving Kalani a 1-0 victory and a spot in Saturday’s final.

"I feel like I let the team down," an emotional Thierbach said. "I’ve trained for that shot and usually make it every time in practice. It didn’t go as planned."

During the match, the cleats Thierbach started with broke and he put on a new pair. He thought about going back to the first pair for PKs, but didn’t. He was not making an excuse for the miss when he said the new pair "stuck to the turf more" than what he was used to.

"I’m not blaming it on that, though," he said.

Nakayama was the first person in Kalani’s pig pile after the win was secure.

"I guess so," he said demurely when reminded how big his goal was for the team. "In PKs, there’s a lot of pressure, but the team gave me the confidence. Luckily, it went in."

During the first seven rounds of PKs, both goalkeepers — the Falcons’ Michael Stafford and the Hurricanes’ Makana Breault — made one save each and one shooter on each team shot high for a 5-5 PK tie going into what turned out to be the final round.

"We played them in the preseason and tied 0-0, so we knew the outcome tonight would be like a coin flip," Kalani coach Michael Ching said. "It was a fun game and eight PKs is a testament to how good both ‘keepers are. Kapolei is a fantastic team."

During the match’s first 100 minutes, Stafford made two incredible saves — on Kapolei’s Aidan Venegas and Lane McLellan — in which he clutched the ball while diving in the air, fully extended.

"Coach tells me to always be wide awake," Stafford said. "To always stay focused and alert and make sure I set my feet and explode."

Despite suffering their first loss, the Hurricanes (9-1-2) will resume action in the state tournament.

"We should have put one in (before PKs)," Thierbach said. "We’ll take it as a lesson and go out and try to win states. Our main goal was to qualify for states and let the chips fall from there. This was a tough loss, though."

Mililani 1, Kalaheo 0, 2OT

Marc Matas headed in Jarad Choquette’s corner kick late in the second overtime to push the Trojans past the Mustangs and into the OIA title game against Kalani on Saturday.

In regulation, Mililani (11-1-0) had a wide edge in field position and put tons of pressure on Mustangs goalkeeper Jack Bell, especially in the second half, to no avail. The Trojans’ Jeron Cunningham hit the crossbar and Matas hit the post.

Kalaheo (8-2-2) will head to the state tournament after being eliminated from OIA title contention. Aside from making the semifinals, the Mustangs, a Division II team a year ago, finished second in the OIA West.