Roosevelt wins first OIA water polo title since 2009

Roosevelt water polo player Maya Uchimura was the equivalent of an elite post scorer in basketball on Thursday.

Uchimura scored five goals — all from in close — over the final four minutes of the second quarter as Roosevelt beat Kaiser 10-5 in the final of the OIA girls water polo tournament at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.

“Thanks to my teammates, they put it in when I needed it and when I was open,” said Uchimura, a senior.

The Rough Riders (9-0) won their first OIA title since 2009.

Roosevelt will be the OIA’s seeded team and receive a first-round bye in the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA Girls Water Polo Championships to be held May 2-7. Kamehameha will host 13 of the 15 tournament matches.

Kaiser, Kahuku, Kalaheo and Mililani also will represent the OIA at the state tournament, which wasn’t held the past two years because of COVID-19.

“We’ve been waiting for this game for three years,” said Roosevelt coach Susan Nishioka.

The Rough Riders got out to a 5-0 lead before the Cougars got their first goal at 4:28 on a long shot by Jaime Farah with the shot clock about to expire.

“We just go out and blast … swim as fast as we can and do as much as we can,” Nishioka said.

Uchimura then caught fire with goals at 4:05, 3:08, 2:31, 1:58 and 0:10 to put Roosevelt ahead 10-2 at halftime. Kaiser’s Keira Johnson scored on a penalty shot at 2:54.

“I do like the contact (close to the goal),” Uchimura said. “I volunteer to go in and my team tells me to go in and it’s something I practice during practice and during the games. It’s fun being in that position.”

Kaiser, which won the OIA title in 2019, held Roosevelt scoreless in the second half and got goals by Emi Chrash, Kristen Johnson and Farah. The Cougars (8-1) also missed a pair of penalty shots in the final 97 seconds of the match.

Roosevelt goalkeeper Emily Pacis made eight saves in the second half after making only three in the first.

“I kind of just went for it and went with my instincts,” said Pacis, a senior.

Kaiser coach Asa Tanaka was happy with his team’s recovery after halftime.

“You just have to start from somewhere,” he said. “The game is 0-0 (to start the second half), let’s see what we can do. They rallied a little bit, our goalie started off with a couple blocks and got her confidence back. The girls felt better, they got a little more energy, but we just took too long to get started.”

Roosevelt’s first shot was saved by Kaiser goalkeeper Malia Felix. Then the Rough Riders scored on three consecutive shots.

Kaya Uchimura, Maya’s twin sister, scored at 3:24 and 2:41 and Maile Shiroma found the back of the net at 2:10.

Clara Lee made it 4-0 Rough Riders on a penalty shot at 1:01.

Kaiser had a shot go off the post at the buzzer while on a power play.

Roosevelt’s Shiroma scored at 6:34 of the second quarter to make it 5-0.

The Cougars’ Felix finished with six saves.