Heady play helps Kamehameha beat Campbell in OT

The Kamehameha girls soccer team turned to “designated header” Marley Espiau to pull out an overtime victory over Campbell on Thursday.

Espiau scored on a header in the 90th minute off a free kick from Sarah Naumu as No. 1 seed Kamehameha beat Campbell 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Girls Division I Soccer Championships at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Kamehameha (9-0-2) faces No. 4 seed Kamehameha-Maui at 7 p.m. today in the semifinals at Pearl City.

The golden goal was set up after a Warriors player was fouled off the right side. Naumu lined up to take the free kick a few times, but the referee kept having Kamehameha move the ball back to where the foul occurred, which was about 35 yards from the goal. The Warriors seemed to get more and more frustrated each time the ball was moved.

Naumu’s kick found a charging Espiau at the back post.

“I’m not really good with my feet. I kind of like heading the ball a little bit more,” said Espiau, whose four goals this season were all off headers. “Every time I’m in the box, they look for me. That’s kind of my thing, is headers. I knew she could get it there and even if they moved it back, I still had faith in her to get it there. I just saw it and hit it in the net.”

Naumu takes all free kicks for Kamehameha, the ILH champion.

“When I take free kicks, I just always aim for the goal and try to keep it on frame, but I know Marley is there to head it in,” Naumu said. “It was a little far, so I just put a good ball in so she could get her head on it.”

The Warriors, the three-time defending champions, nearly broke through in the second half, with Shanti Ng and Maddison Sharrer putting shots off the post.

“It was right there. We just needed to not be frustrated,” Kamehameha coach Missy Moore said. “That was the main talk we had going into the overtime, not to get frustrated, to keep plugging away and keep grinding it out like we have all season and it’s going to happen.”

Campbell, the OIA’s third-place team, did a nice job packing in its defense and shutting down passing lanes.

“That’s what we do, we defend, we hold,” Campbell coach James Curran said. “Our goal is to have zero goals against us. No team really scored against us in the run of play. Set pieces, majority of the time minimal goals against us this season. I’m really proud of our girls.”

Moore said: “It’s one of those game where the defense is going to stay back, we need to find the channels and pockets to play in and we struggled to do that.”

Campbell (11-4-1) faces Moanalua in a fifth-place semifinal today at 1 p.m. at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Curran was very happy with his team’s overall performance against the Warriors, an 11-time state champion.

“Effort was amazing. That’s what we do, we bring pride and effort in our community and our school. Couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Kamehameha-Maui 3, Moanalua 1

Raeja Librando gave the Warriors the lead in the 17th minute.

Sienna Kamalani and Naia Kaulukukui padded it in the second half, before Rylie Echavaria broke up the shutout in the 75th minute.

The Warriors play their sisters from Kapalama in a 7 p.m. semifinal tonight at Pearl City, following Punahou’s matchup with Mililani.