Hawaii Beat Star-Bulletin staff

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HAWAII

Saint Louis moves up to top spot

Punahou opened the season as the top-ranked team in the Star-Bulletin Football Top 10 and showed no signs of falling from that lofty perch.

ILH SHUFFLE This week's Star-Bulletin Football Top 10 is the same as last week's - except for the top three ILH schools Team LW TW Saint Louis 3 1 Kamehameha 4 3 Punahou 1 4

That's what made Saturday's beating at the hands of the Saint Louis Crusaders all the more surprising.

Saint Louis moved from No. 3 to No. 1 by crushing the Buffanblu 40-19 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener for both teams.

The sledding doesn't get any easier for the Crusaders, though. They play No. 3 Kamehameha at Aloha Stadium on Friday night. A loss would likely move No. 2 Leilehua to the top. The defending state champion Mules, who were narrowly held out of the top spot, face winless Pearl City on Friday.

Allen at home in the alley

Mililani bowler Ray Allen Jr. has the best per-game average in the OIA West, scoring 222 a line.

Last summer he was as close to perfect as possible, rolling a 299.

He has a ball for every situation, and drills the finger holes himself.

» Full story

Kai becomes a Jersey girl

Soccer has taken Natasha Kai all over the world - including Beijing last month, where she helped the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal.

Now the striker who starred at Kahuku and the University of Hawaii before joining the national team, will represent New Jersey as a member of Sky Blue FC. It is one of seven teams in the new Women's Professional Soccer league.

Kai was assigned yesterday to the team that will play its home games in Piscataway, N.J. The allocation draft of U.S. national team players was held in Lower Manhattan.

"This is only my second time here," Kai said. "I'm here in the big city, and it should be a good fit for me."

Each team drafted three players. Defender Christie Rampone and striker Heather O'Reilly, both from New Jersey, join Kai on Sky Blue.

In addition to New Jersey, WPS will field teams for its 2009 season in Washington, Boston, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Jose, Calif. The league, which plans to add at least two more teams for 2010, will hold drafts for international players next week, for other players in October and for collegians in January. The season starts in April.

For the complete allocation list, see Scoreboard.

PACWEST PLACE

Vulcans even up record in soccer

Hawaii-Hilo's women's soccer team defeated Academy of Art yesterday, 4-0, at Keaau to improve to 3-3 on the season.

All four Vulcans goals by Megan Pachecano, Jessica Snell, Adele Letro and Chelsea Gomez came after a scoreless first half.

» The Hawaii-Hilo men were bumped up a notch to No. 6 in the NSCAA/adidas Regional Rankings following their Hawaii Challenge victory over Hawaii Pacific.

The Vulcans have won five straight and are 5-1 overall.