No. 1 seed Punahou took a giant step in its efforts to repeat as state girls soccer champion by defeating Moanalua 5-2 last night in a Division I quarterfinal at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park.

Four different players scored goals for Punahou (11-1-1), led by midfielder Kendra Trifonovitch, who had two. The junior put two of Punahou's first three goals into the net to carry her team to a win in its first game in the JN Automotive/HHSAA Girls State Soccer Tournament.

The victory enabled Punahou to advance to the semifinal round against Kalani, a 3-0 winner over Hilo in yesterday's first quarterfinal game. That matchup will take place today at 5. The championship game will be played tomorrow night at 7.

“;We are off to a great start,”; Trifonovitch said after the game. “;Hopefully we can continue to play with energy and excitement.”;

Punahou coach Matt Martinson believes his team played this game with a strong determination to repeat.

“;Teams like Moanalua come at us hard. We just need to stay mentally ready to compete. When you take the field at states you got to expect tough battles. Some people think soccer is played on a physical level. But for us it's more mental,”; Martinson said.

Playing with determination helped Punahou take over the game after a slow start.

Moanalua's Tiana Fujimoto netted the first goal of the game at the 20:45 mark to give Na Menehune (12-4-0) the early lead.

Trailing 1-0, Punahou woke up quickly and started its offensive motors.

Trifonovitch tied the game with a goal at the 21:40 mark. Ten minutes later Sydney Meheula scored a goal and Trifonovitch added another before intermission.

From there, Punahou dictated the pace of the game in the second half by keeping the ball away from Moanalua's offensive players.

Lauren Stollar and Dempsey Banks scored goals for Punahou in the second half.

“;This was a total team effort,”; Trifonovitch said. “;My teammates and I played together the whole night. On my first goal our team was upset that Moanalua was in the lead. So we stepped up and started attacking the goal with full force. It paid off because we were able to play aggressively the rest of the game.”;

Meheula, a senior, says she believes this team is as good as last year's state championship team.

“;Even though this is a brand-new team we all feel that we can win it all,”; Meheula said. “;When we started the season we figure that we would not be as strong as last season's team. We lost nine key players to graduation. But winning thus far this season has given us a new feeling about ourselves.”;

Martinson echoed these same thoughts.

“;Our team has come a long way in gaining the confidences needed to win states once again,”; he said.

Baldwin 1, Kapolei 0

Bears sophomore Amber-Lei Madriaga broke a scoreless tie with a goal in the 56th minute to lead third-seeded Baldwin (14-0-1) over the Hurricanes (9-5-3). Up next for the Bears is OIA champion Mililani.

Kalani 3, Hilo 0

Sonya Aguirre broke open a close game with two second-half goals to lead the Falcons (14-2-1) past the fourth-seeded Vikings (12-1-2) and into tonight's semifinals against Punahou.

Arden Mateo gave Kalani a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 15th minute.

Mililani 4, Pearl City 0

The top-seeded Trojans scored three goals in the second half to beat the Chargers.

Mari Miyashiro scored in the 33rd minute to give Mililani a 1-0 halftime lead. Chelsea Miyake and Lauren Uehara both scored in a 4-minute span early in the second half and Kellie Kawamoto capped the scoring with a goal in the 79th minute for the Trojans (16-0).

Division II
Kailua 4, Makua Lani 1

Ashley Kanoho scored a hat trick and Tiana Decosta chipped in a goal in the final minutes to give top-seeded Kailua a victory over Makua Lani yesterday in the quarterfinals of Division II play in the JN Automotive/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Kanoho's first goal came in the 22nd minute to give the Surfriders a 1-0 lead. She scored a goal in the 39th minute to increase Kailua's lead, but Malia Kaiwi answered with a score in the final seconds for Makua Lani before halftime.

Kailua added two more goals in the second half to pull away. The Surfriders (13-0) will face unseeded Kauai in a semifinal match today at 3 p.m.

Kauai 2, Hawaii Prep 0

Kyle Tanaguchi and Alyssa Vegas scored first-half goals to lead the Red Raiders (6-4) over fourth-seeded Ka Makani (13-1-1), handing Hawaii Prep its first loss of the season.

Kapaa 2, Honokaa 1

Dakota Barnett and Seri Niimi-Burch scored in the first half and the Warriors (9-0) hung on to defeat the Dragons (11-6).

Honokaa's Monica Carlos scored in the 72nd minute to pull the Dragons within a goal, but they couldn't get any closer.

Pac-Five 2, Kamehameha-Hawaii 1

Akemi Rair scored 4 minutes into the game and Kendal Kagawa added a goal in the 47th minute to lead the third-seeded Wolfpack (5-6-2) over the Warriors (11-4).

Kylie Takata scored a goal in the 68th minute for Kamehameha-Hawaii.

Star-Bulletin staff contributed to this report.