Iolani's Kei Tomozawa is challenged by Kamehameha-Maui's Daniel Quenga. Sylvia Lee | SL

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021414_SL-BSOC-KSM_IOL-6792.jpg - Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAIPAHU - On Valentine's Day, 'Iolani School's administration showed some love to its weary boys' soccer team.

After needing penalty kicks to beat defending state champion Kalani the night before in a quarterfinal that ended at 11 p.m., the Raiders responded with a 2-0 win against Kamehameha-Maui in the semifinals of the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Division I boys' state soccer tournament Friday at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Top-seeded 'Iolani (14-0) will play Punahou (9-3-3) for title 7 p.m. Saturday at the complex's main stadium. The Raiders are looking for their first title since 2009, when they beat Mililani, 5-2. 'Iolani's last title game appearance was 2010 in a 1-0 loss to Punahou.

"It's amazing because we've been out the past two years," 'Iolani junior midfielder Spencer Ho said. "Our team has worked extra hard, we did extra conditioning."

After Thursday's late finish, the school understood that it might be hard for the players to get to school on time.

"The school was a little bit lenient on them today," 'Iolani coach Chris Lee said with a laugh. "You don't know how it's going to affect them. We talked about it. We just had to deal with the situation whatever it was."

Cutting the players some slack seemed to help. The Raiders looked fresh for a team that played the late game the night before. It finished late because it was the third quarterfinal of the day to run into overtime.

"Some of our teammates kind of slept in a bit," Ho said. "Basically, we tried to get a good night's sleep and try to control our excitement. (Administrators) were very understanding, so that was cool."

The Raiders broke the scoreless deadlock at the 26th minute. A direct kick by KJ Ahlo hit the top of the post and Keoni Makekau returned the deflection into the goal from about three yards to give 'Iolani a 1-0 lead.

"That guy followed up the first goal," Warriors coach Kimo Correa said. "You have to give them a lot of credit."

'Iolani's defense kept denying the Warriors from Maui. They got of only six shots on goal, but they were quality ones, as Raiders' keeper Josh Adachi saved four of them.

"Josh made the saves that he needed to make," Lee said. "That's what we expect with the defense that we have."

The Warrirors labored to get more shots because of 'Iolani's fullback line of Dustin Wagner, Timmy Leong, Aaron Yanagi and Cole Tuisamatatele.

"(The Warriors) have some very talented players," said Lee, citing KSM forwards Micah Alo and Brennan Joaquin. "Kamehameha-Maui's a very good team."

The Raiders added their second goal at the 60th minute. Ho's corner kick was deflected by Yanagi back to Ho at the left wing. Ho drilled the deflection from about 15 yards to increase the Raiders' lead to 2-0.

"I thought I could serve it," Ho said. "Then I saw the defender come out, so I took a big touch to beat him. I've taken that shot before and hit the cross bar. Finally, I thought I'm just going to go for it. I aimed for the far post…It was a great feeling."

"That was a beautiful shot," Correa said.

The Warriors gave a strong effort with the hopes of making an all-Maui Interscholastic League finale. But Baldwin also fell in its semifinal and it will be an all-Interscholastic League of Honolulu finale instead.

""Iolani's a great team, but I believe I have a great team as well," Correa said. "These kids, I'm so proud of them. I love them. We fought to the end."