[ HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER ]
It's not the way they planned it last night, but the purple-clad Pearl City Chargers saved their best for last. Late surge lifts Chargers
By Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comChante Figueroa's goal in the final minute gave Pearl City a 1-0 victory over Aiea in an Oahu Interscholastic Association girls soccer semifinal at Mililani.
The goal capped a late-game flourish by the Chargers, who were outhustled by Na Alii for much of the first half and part of the second.
"We knew it was going to depend on which purple team shows up," Pearl City co-head coach Frank Baumholtz III said. "If the right purple team shows up, we take this team (Aiea) apart. In the last 15 minutes, we finally jelled and started to connect on passes. It took a long time for them to wake up, but thank God they finally did."
With halfback Kimberly Unten directing the Chargers' offense with numerous skillful passes to Figueroa, Tracie Miura, Chelsea Arakawa and Lauren Maeshiro late in the game, the pressure on the Aiea defense began to intensify and Pearl City got the break it needed.
A bounding ball ricocheted off an Aiea defender onto the foot of Figueroa, who barreled in alone on the left wing. She pushed the ball from her right foot to the left, and, with Na Alii goaltender Diana Shiroma committed to the left, Figueroa redirected the ball past Shiroma and into the low right corner from 15 yards out.
"I never shoot with my left foot," Figueroa said. "Never. But I knew I only had a little bit of time (as fullbacks chased), so I had to really push it."
Pearl City (11-0-1) moves on to play Mililani in the OIA final Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The Chargers will also play in the state tournament on Maui, Feb. 19-22. Aiea (10-3), which meets Kahuku in Friday night's third-place game at 5:15 at Kailua, also has a ticket to the states.
It was obvious from the start that the Chargers were going to try to beat Na Alii with their deft passing game, and even though Unten, Miura, Maeshiro and Figueroa managed some passing plays into the Aiea zone in the first half, they were unable to create high-percentage scoring chances.
Na Alii had the best chance at a goal in the first half, but Stephanie Sumida's 15-yard rocket was snared by Pearl City keeper Amber Horn.
"We came out strong and played pretty good in the midfield area," Aiea coach Gordon Matsuoka said. "But unfortunately we didn't get too many shots.
"It's tough to lose late in the game like that, but at least it was a good, clean goal and not a cheap one."
Aiea's Ambree Ako was denied by Horn twice in the second half, once on a curving corner kick and once by a half-step on a race to the ball after Pearl City fullback Christy Ayers' pass back to Horn didn't have enough juice on it.
"I don't like this feeling, losing like this, because everybody wanted it," said Aiea fullback Tehane Higa, who blocked a point-blank Figueroa shot with about 10 minutes left. "We outplayed them for a lot of the game, but at the end we were kind of dying out."
Unten, the flashy Pearl City midfielder, agreed that Aiea had the upper hand for most of the contest.
"We weren't connecting and playing just OK, not to the best of our ability," Unten said. "They (Na Alii) were dominating most of the game and we got a lucky bounce that led to our goal. But that's how all good teams win in games like this."
Mililani 3, Kahuku 0: At Mililani, the defending state champion Trojans (11-0-1) advanced to the OIA final by blanking the Red Raiders (8-2-2).
Sarah Yoro scored in the first half for Mililani, while Jen Loo and Alysen Ono found the net in the second half.
"I think our passing game and our quick wing play opened it up for us," Trojans coach James Uson said.
Uson was concerned about Kahuku's size coming into the game.
"I knew they had a lot of good athletes and that worried me," he said. "I know they're big and can get physical, but that didn't become a factor when we started moving the ball around them quickly. They didn't have a chance to bully up on us."
Uson credited his defenders with shutting down high-scoring Red Raider Krisha Kai, and he knows the Trojans will have their hands full trying to stop Kimberly Unten in the final Saturday against the Chargers at Pearl City.
"Give her the ball and she'll score," he said. "We have to deny her the ball. We're in for a battle."
Varsity boys
Consolation semifinalsKapolei 1, Campbell 0: Brandon Pieper scored for the Hurricanes, and the Sabers were eliminated from state tournament consideration. Kapolei meets Moanalua on Friday at Castle at 7 p.m. for the OIA's fifth and final spot at states.
Moanalua 3, Kaiser 2: Aaron Miura scored two goals and Nick Lovaw added another as the Menehunes stayed alive in their bid to reach states. The Cougars, who entered the OIA tournament as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Division, got goals from Brandon Self and Michael Rivas-Micoud.
Hawaii School Web Sites