Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Mililani, Kaiser top The Oahu Interscholastic Association boys soccer playoffs open tomorrow with 12 teams fighting for the league crown. But its current owner will not be one of them.
OIA soccer seeds
The soccer playoffs, which start
tomorrow, determine a champ and
5 berths in the state tourneyBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comPearl City, last year's OIA champion, appeared on track to return to the playoffs and earn a shot at defending its title. But a grade-check snafu resulted in the forfeiture of five wins and two ties and eliminated the Chargers from postseason play.
"You're missing a key element in Pearl City," Mililani coach Jeff Yamamoto said. "And I think it hurts us in the long run, because you need to play teams like Pearl City to prepare for the state tournament."
The OIA tournament begins tomorrow with first-round matches at Leilehua and Moanalua.
Kahuku (6-3-1, fourth place in OIA East) faces Aiea (4-3-2, fifth OIA East) at 5:15 p.m., and Leilehua (6-3, third OIA West) meets Kailua (5-3-2, sixth OIA East) at 7 at Leilehua's field.
In matches at Moanalua, Radford (6-3, fourth OIA West) takes on Kalani (6-4, fifth OIA East) at 5:15 and Moanalua (7-3, third OIA East) plays Waianae (3-4-2, sixth OIA West) at 7.
The winners move on to the quarterfinals to be hosted by Mililani and Kaiser on Thursday. The losers are eliminated.
OIA West champion Mililani (9-0) has won four league titles since 1995 and captured the state championship last year. Campbell (6-2-1) benefited from Pearl City's misfortune by moving into second place and earning a bye into the quarterfinals.
Kaiser, seeking its first OIA championship, enters the tournament as the OIA East champion after going 10-0 in division play. Castle finished second in the East at 7-1-2 and, like Kaiser, has a first-round bye and will begin play Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Castle plays the Leilehua-Kailua winner and Mililani faces the Kahuku-Aiea winner at Mililani's field. Campbell awaits Moanalua or Waianae, and Kaiser will host either Radford or Kalani. The quarterfinal winners move on to the semifinals and qualify for the AT&T Wireless State Boys Soccer Championship on Maui.
The semifinals are scheduled for Jan. 29 at Mililani and the championship game is set for Pearl City on Feb. 2.
The quarterfinal losers face each other Jan. 30 at Kailua in the fifth-place bracket, which will determine the league's final state tournament entrant. The third-place and fifth-place games are set for Feb. 1 at Kailua.
"This is the part of the season I really enjoy," Yamamoto said. "Not to say the regular season games aren't important, but in the playoffs, every single game counts. It's pretty much you lose and you're out."
Kaiser won the OIA East title, thanks to a defense that gave up just one goal in the regular season. The Cougars feature the league's leading scorer in Landon Beers, who finished with 16 goals.
Mililani led the OIA in scoring with 41 goals and was second in goals allowed with three. The Trojans have three of the top four scorers in the division in Nathan Amous (11 goals), Whitney Shimatsu (10) and Justin Kim (7). Campbell's Michael Ryman led the OIA West with 15 goals.
"We're playing much better as a team," Yamamoto said. "We're really working together well as a team both on offense and defense and that's a major improvement from the beginning of the season. The boys are finding their timing."
Notes: The state tournament is scheduled for Feb. 6-9 at Maui War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku. ... Pearl City, which dropped from 5-0-2 to 0-7 after the forfeits, outscored its final two opponents 9-0. The Chargers finished eighth in the OIA West.