Wednesday, February 6, 2002
If only for a day, the Iolani girls soccer team kept its hopes for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship alive yesterday by battling Punahou to a 1-1 tie at Kapiolani Park. Iolani still alive after tie
but Punahou can clinch todayBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe outcome created a three-way tie for first place in the ILH. But the deadlock could be broken today when Punahou returns to Kapiolani Park to face Pac-Five at 4:15 p.m. in its regular season finale.
A win or a tie would nudge the Buffanblu ahead of Iolani and Kamehameha and give them the league championship and the ILH's lone state tournament berth.
"That's what's so hard about the ILH," Punahou coach Jorge Barbosa said. "You go so hard against each other and only one team can go."
Kamehameha and Iolani (both 7-2-1) need Pac-Five (3-4-2) to pull of an upset today to force a playoff later this week.
Punahou (7-1-1) could have clinched the title with a win yesterday against an Iolani team it defeated, 3-1, on Jan. 13.
The Buffanblu dominated the early stages of the match, but couldn't convert on scoring opportunities.
"The ball did everything but go in," Barbosa said.
Iolani coach Sandy Shimogaki said her team's defensive preparation in practice on Monday helped the Raiders deal with the persistent Punahou attack.
"We didn't stop everything, but when (Punahou) got near the goal, they knew what to do," she said.
Punahou finally broke through 13 minutes, 39 seconds into the second half when Charlene Lui scored off an assist from Ashley Collins. But Iolani responded six minutes later as Lauran Dignam, an Iolani track standout, broke away from the Punahou defense to score the tying goal.
Both teams had shots to take the lead later in the half, but came up empty. A Punahou shot bounced off the right post and a Dignam shot slid wide of the goal to preserve the tie.
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