Brandon Ching | ScoringLive
February 21, 2015, 9:27pm
Chase for the Championship
Top-seeded Iolani outlasts Kapolei, 1-0, in 2OT
Iolani players celebrate after scoring the game-winning goal in the second overtime to defeat Kapolei. Steve Erler | Special to SLKAPOLEI—Better late than never.
Spencer Ho's goal in the 98th minute of the second overtime lifted top-seeded Iolani past Kapolei, 1-0 in the nightcap of the 2015 Outrigger Resorts/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Soccer State Championship quarterfinals at Kapolei High School.
"It was a well-played game on both sides and Kapolei did a lot of things to neutralize what we wanted to do and they have some dangerous players upfront and I knew coming in, it wasn't going to be an easy game," said Iolani coach Chris Lee.
The Raiders advance to play Kalani, who defeated Kamehameha Schools-Maui earlier, 2-1, in the semifinals on Friday, Feb. 27. The Raiders are the top team in the ScoringLive/OC 16 Boys Soccer Power Rankings. The Hurricanes, ranked sixth, see their season end at 11-2-2 overall.
"We cannot hold our heads down, we have to bounce back and move forward. I think what was great was to limit the other team's opportunity so when you have that opportunity, you have to make the most of it. They (Iolani) made their opportunity and they're moving on," said Kapolei co-head coach Ryan Lau.
Although it was the Hurricanes' home field, they were the visiting team for the game. The game was close from start to finish and had the makings of a championship game, not a quarterfinal matchup.
"We are proud of the guys, we have a good mix of youth and experience. We came together at the end, granted it was a tough loss, but it was a championship-level game. It's too bad we met in the quarterfinals, I think this is one of the better played games," said Lau.
Ho took the pass from Matt Parke and fired the shot with his left foot past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Makana Breault to end the game in sudden-death.
"We had a good few passes, my teammate Parke found a great pass out to me wide, I took three touches and I wanted to get into that sweet spot and I saw the keeper come up and I just took the shot. It was one of those shots that felt it came off right and it was great timing," said Ho.
Shannon Hopeau had two shot opportunities in the first overtime, but couldn't connect.
"With guys like CJ (Harvey) and Shandon, who are quick and have good individual skill, you have to play really good defense to stop those guys," said Lee.
"In the second half we had them in transition, we got too frantic when we went too wide away from goal when we should've went at the goal," said Lau.
Neither team could get on the scoreboard in the first half and at the end of regulation.
"It took us a while to get settled into the game. I thought we played better about 30 minutes into the game and in the second half we were more dangerous and created more opportunities in the second half," said Lee.
"Kapolei got us out of our tempo and props to them for having a great defense," said Ho, crediting the Hurricane defense. "The coaches kept telling us to settle down and create the opportunities."
"When we had our opportunities, some it was frantic. Both teams in the first half had two looks in the box. Granted, they weren't the greatest looks but we still had opportunities," said Lau.
Both teams had their scoring opportunities, but the defenses were there to clear it out.
"We owe it to our defenses, Danny (Leong) came up huge and our whole backline stepped up and cleared out balls," said Ho.
