The Mililani boys soccer team is all about finishing the job this time around.
Skyler Vail and Kalen Toguchi scored second-half goals as No. 2 seed Mililani beat Punahou 2-0 in the semifinals of the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Boys Division I State Championships on Friday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex’s main stadium.
The Trojans will be making their second consecutive final appearance. They fell to ‘Iolani in last season’s championship game.
“We have 18 returning from last year,” Mililani coach Steve McGehee said. “They all were there and they all saw what happened. They’ve had that in their mind from the end of last year till now. They know what they need to do. They know what job they have to finish. I keep reminding the boys, they have a job, everyone has a job. Do your job.”
Vail and Toguchi came off the bench for the Trojans against the Buffanblu.
“We can swap out several of the boys and you get quality throughout,” McGehee said. “That’s what we want to do is stay balanced with our lines out there and not do line changes that we did throughout the year.”
Mililani (15-0-0) will face the winner of ‘Iolani/Baldwin in today’s final at 7 p.m. at Waipio.
“Last year, it didn’t go in our favor, but we’re loaded on all cylinders this year,” Toguchi said. “We’re going to come out firing with whatever we have. We’ll put our best foot forward.”
The Trojans have won six state championships, most recently in 2015 under McGehee.
Vail scored off a flick by Maumausolo Uiagalelei at 51:33. Elijah Kuni’s throw-in from the right side found the head of Uiagalelei and the ball traveled past a handful of players to Vail, who buried the shot.
“It was one of our set plays that we had throughout the season,” Vail said. “The ball was going to the first post and I was sitting on top of the box. I saw space at the back post and I ran in and the ball came through and I hit it in.”
Punahou coach Hugo Gutierrez said: “Their throw-ins are really, really dangerous. That’s how they got us.”
Punahou (10-2-2) nearly equalized a few minutes after Vail’s goal when Williams Ruotola’s shot from the top of the penalty box went off the crossbar. The ball wound up with Ruotola after the Trojans couldn’t clear Jake Nakatsu’s free kick.
The Trojans took a two-goal lead at 70:08 when Kai Martin took a through ball on the left side and crossed to Toguchi, who touched the ball into the right side of the goal.
“Kai just served me the ball and props to him again,” Toguchi said. “Half the goal was him. I just slotted it home.”
Mililani peppered Punahou goalkeeper Aslan Chong with shots prior to Vail’s goal.
Martin put a shot just wide right and Tayeden Lau also had a couple of scoring opportunities.
“When you have both teams going hard and trying to score, you’re going to have to be weaker on one side, stronger on the other side,” Gutierrez said. “We were trying to balance it out. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us.”
The first half saw limited scoring opportunities for both teams.
Punahou had the best opportunity for either team in the 15th when Nakatsu’s free kick from just inside the halfway line was saved by Mililani goalkeeper Maddox Flanders, who leaped and swatted the ball over the crossbar.
