Punahou wins 13th straight state title in water polo

Punahou girls water polo coach Ken Smith took the plunge into Kamehameha’s pool Saturday after leading the Buffanblu to yet another state title, then apologized in advance of media interviews because he might have trouble talking because “I’m so damn cold.”

As for his team, Punahou got hot late in the second quarter and never let up in an 11-3 victory over Kamehameha in the final of the Stanford Carr Development/HHSAA Girls Water Polo Championships.

It was the Buffanblu’s 13th consecutive state title and 15th overall.

Kaylee Ogawa scored five goals and Pono Gacutan and Allison Kauahi each added three for No. 1 seed Punahou, which scored the final seven goals of the match.

“It’s a super amazing feeling,” Ogawa said. “We’ve been training super hard this season. We’ve been doing a lot of morning practices and they really paid off, especially for moments like these.”

Ogawa and Gacutan are part of a six-member Punahou senior class that won a state title as freshman. No state tournaments were held the past two years because of COVID. All the seniors were in the pool as the final horn sounded.

“It really means a lot because freshman year all six of us were on the varsity team, so being able to get into the pool and win it for our team was really memorable and a nice send-off,” Gacutan said.

Buffanblu freshman goalie Reia Kim finished with seven saves.

“She’s a gift,” Smith said. “Having a ninth grader playing in the state final and playing that well, it’s a pretty good deal for you.”

Punahou (14-0) handed Kamehameha (10-5) all of its losses this season, with Saturday’s result being the widest margin of victory.

“It’s the fifth time we played, so we kind of knew what we were going to do,” said Kamehameha coach Anthony Cabrera. “It was just a matter of minimizing our mistakes and trying to capitalize on their few mistakes.”

Punahou scored first on a goal by Ogawa at 5:22 of the first quarter and Kamehameha tied it on Leinaala Wong’s power-play goal at 3:49.

The Buffanblu went up 3-1 on a goal by Ogawa at 3:29 and a power-play goal by Gacutan at 2:37.

The Warriors’ Reaves Dayton scored on a penalty shot at 2:14 and the Buffanblu answered on a lob shot by Gacutan at 0:54 to take a 4-2 lead.

Kamehameha got within a goal on Dayton’s score at 3:55 of the second quarter, but Punahou went up 6-3 on a rebound goal by Ogawa and Gacutan’s penalty shot at 1:18.

“Pono, she gave me a lot of good passes and I don’t think the goals would have worked without her,” Ogawa said.

Smith said Ogawa is “Like a coach in water.”

The Buffanblu got separation with three goals in the third quarter to take a 9-3 advantage. Ogawa scored on a breakaway at 4:03 and added another goal at 3:02 and Kauahi scored at 0:42.

“We really just tried to do our best and maintain the energy we had starting off the game,” Gacutan said.

Kauahi scored on a penalty shot at 4:45 and added another score at 3:06 of the fourth quarter.

Kamehameha had two shots on goal in the second half and another three go off the past in the fourth.

“The thing that is most impressive is to be able to not have them score any goals in the whole second half and having pretty close games with them the whole season … to be able to do that up here in the final. We relied a lot on our defense and our transition game and that played a big part in our success,” said the 75-year-old Smith, who started coaching in 1972.

Warriors goalie Kahala Neumann made five saves.

The Buffanblu have defeated the Warriors in all 11 of their state title matches, including the past six tournaments.

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STANFORD CARR DEVELOPMENT GIRLS WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Championship

Punahou 11, Kamehameha 3

Goal Scorers—KS: Reaves Dayton 2, Leinaala Wong. Pun: Kaylee Ogawa 5, Allison Kauahi 3, Pono Gacutan 3.

Third Place

Kaiser 9, Hawaii Prep 6

Goal Scorers—HPA: Maile Imonen 3, Claire Hughes 2, Phoebe Wyatt. Kais: Kristen Johnson 4, Keira Johnson 3, Emi Chrash, Jaime Farah.

Fifth Place

Roosevelt 13, Kamehameha-Hawaii 3

Goal Scorers—Roos: Clara Lee 5, MayaUchimura 4, Kaya Uchimura 2, KawaiHedges 2. KSH: Waiahuli Akau, OliliuWise, Awapuhi Kalima-Martina.

All-Tournament Team

Pono Gacutan, Punahou

Emma Luna, Punahou

Kohia Rego, KS-Kapalama

Leinaala Wong, KS-Kapalama

Jordyn Nishimura, KS-Kapalama

Kristin Johnson, Kaiser

Goalkeeper: Reia Kimi, Punahou

Most Outstanding Player: Kaylee Ogawa, Punahou