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Na Alii, Warriors resume rivalry with close battles

Kaaihue lifts King Kekaulike girls to 1-0 victory; boys teams tie 1-1

By Robert Collias 5 min read

PUKALANI -- Whenever the Upcountry soccer rivalry between King Kekaulike High School and neighbor Kamehameha Schools Maui is renewed, boys and girls, it is pretty easy to count on competitive matches.

Not even the missed 2021 season due to the pandemic could change that fact.

On Wednesday night, the rivals were on the field again for the first time in nearly two calendar years and neither match disappointed the crowd of about 150 people in the King Kekaulike Stadium stands.

The defending Maui Interscholastic League champion Na Alii girls found the back of the net on a goal by U'i Kaaihue off an assist by Soana Akinaka in the 66th minute and then held on for a 1-0 win.

Na Alii, the state runners-up in 2020, improved to 3-0-0 in MIL play with their first tough test of the season.

"I tried to just, like, volley it in," Kaaihue said of her goal that came off a bouncing ball in front of the Kamehameha goal. "It was kind of bouncing when I got it. It felt good, I had a lot of fun."

The four teams in action at King Kekaulike on Wednesday were the Division I representatives from the MIL to the state tournaments during the last season held in 2020.

The boys match Wednesday night ended in a 1-1 tie.

Kaaihue is a senior who was a significant contributor on the 2020 team that lost a hard-fought 1-0 decision to Kamehameha Kapalama in the state championship match.

She's grateful to have the chance to play this season after her junior season was wiped out by COVID-19. Players were allowed to have four guests in the stands to watch Wednesday's match -- it was a change from the MIL after announcing on Jan. 7 that fans would be temporarily banned from attending any MIL event.

"It's fun, I guess," Kaaihue said. "I think we're playing well considering we have a lot of new players."

Said King Kekaulike girls coach Gundi Dancil: "Like everything, it's good to be back -- I think we showed that the first half because we were too excited and composure wasn't there."

That changed in a back-and-forth second half.

"The second half we told them that we need to settle down -- we're excited to be playing, we cannot forget what we're here for, which is a nice beautiful game," Dancil said. "It's always a tough match when we play Kamehameha, they came to play and we thank them for a great game."

The Warriors (1-1-0) finished sixth in the 2020 state tournament, winning two of their four matches.

Kamehameha Maui girls coach Jim Kaeo said his team is dealing with COVID-19 protocols daily. He was on the phone trying to figure some of that out during warmups Wednesday.

"Back and forth, and yes, when we meet these guys it's great matches, but right now COVID is getting the best of us," Kaeo said. "We just came out flat and just kind of remained that way."

Unofficial statistics kept in the announcers booth had King Kekaulike with a 10-3 advantage in shot attempts.

In the boys match on the opening night of play, Kamehameha Maui took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Kayden Medeiros in the 35th minute. Na Alii tied it in the 79th minute on a rocket shot from 25 yards off the foot of Bailey Hofmann.

King Kekaulike goalkeeper Kacyn Pascual kept his team in the game with two stellar point-blank stops in the first three minutes of the second half.

"It was a great game, I mean two very strong teams," King Kekaulike co-head coach Aaron Hamamura said. "We respect the heck out of that team over there -- that was a battle. Our defensive players, Jai Sternthall, Kai Thomas, (Bobby) Davis were solid tonight and Bailey Hofmann with the goal, beautiful shot."

The result was a little tougher to take for the Warriors.

"Definitely, always a battle, we were expecting that," Kamehameha Maui coach Jayson Nakasone said. "Ties sometimes kill us in the end, so we wanted it. We were two minutes away, so it is what it is."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

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Wednesday's other MIL scores

GIRLS

Baldwin 8, Lahainaluna 0

Goal scorers--Baldwin: Sienna Fernandez 3 (26th minute, Kili Kamakeeaina assist; 65th, Chloe Toma assist; 66th, Lahela Painter assist), Toma 2 (13th, Shay Okita assist; 49th, Sammy Kinoshita assist), Tamilyn Ebisu (8th, Kinoshita assist), Kamakeeaina (15th, Bailey Ching assist), Painter (30th).

BOYS

Seabury Hall 9, Maui High 1

Baldwin 1, Lahainaluna 0

Goal scorers--Baldwin: Kanata Kuwahara (30th minute). Seabury Hall: No scorers reported. Maui High: No scorers reported.

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MIL STANDINGS

GIRLS

DIVISION I

W L T Pts

King Kekaulike 3 0 0 9

Baldwin 2 0 0 6

Kamehameha Maui 1 1 0 3

Maui High 1 0 0 3

Lahainaluna 0 3 0 0

DIVISION II

W L T Pts

Seabury Hall 0 3 0 0

Wednesday's Results

Baldwin 8, Lahainaluna 0

King Kekaulike 1, Kamehameha Maui 0

Saturday's Matches

King Kekaulike at Maui High, 1 p.m.

Seabury Hall at Lahainaluna, 5 p.m.

Baldwin at Kamehameha Maui, 5 p.m.

BOYS

DIVISION I

W L T Pts

Baldwin 1 0 0 3

Kamehameha Maui 0 0 1 1

King Kekaulike 0 0 1 1

Lahainaluna 0 1 0 0

Maui High 0 1 0 0

DIVISION II

W L T Pts

Seabury Hall 1 0 0 3

Wednesday's Results

Seabury Hall 9, Maui High 1

Baldwin 1, Lahainaluna 0

Kamehameha Maui 1, King Kekaulike 1

Saturday's Matches

King Kekaulike at Maui High, 3 p.m.

Seabury Hall at Lahainaluna, 7 p.m.

Baldwin at Kamehameha Maui, 7 p.m.

Starting at /week.