Punahou's Dempsey Banks challenges Mililani's Shyani Terukina. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou players celebrate after defeating Mililani in the penalty kick shootout. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Fri, Feb 1, 2013 @ Waipio

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Punahou

3

Mililani

2

Final/PK	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Punahou (13-3-1)	0	0	0	0	0	3
Mililani (13-2-1)	0	0	0	0	0	2

T. Reyno    D. Banks    M. Crail-Yusif    L. Hodel

WAIPAHU-For the Punahou girls' soccer team, it will have to sacrifice the taste of carnival goodies for a shot at adding to its storied state tournament history.

The Buffanblu will try to win the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Division I girls' soccer title when they take on top-seeded 'Iolani Saturday night at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex. Kickoff is 7 p.m. and game will be aired on OC 12.

Punahou is the winningest girls' program with 11 state titles.

Punahou advanced to the championship after becoming the first team this season to find the back of Mililani's goal in a 3-2 win in Friday night's semifinals. The Buffanblu won it by taking the penalty-kick tie-breaker, 3-2, with Megan Ching drilling the deciding goal on her team's last try.

The well-rested Raiders will be up against a Punahou team that rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit with a pair of second-half goals, only to see the Trojans tie it in the 77th minute. The Buffanblu then endured two scoreless 10-minute sudden death overtime periods before the penalty-kick phase.

"We've been strategizing, as far as bodies, what they should be eating," Punahou coach Starr Johnson said. "These girls basically are not allowed to participate in Punahou Carnival. No malasads, no teri cheese burgers. Pretty much all the things they like the most and not allowed to have. We need the muscles firing as well as they can. Obviously, our legs are more tired than (the Raiders') are, but our hearts are just as strong, if not stronger."

The Interscholastic League of Honolulu rivals split their regular-season meetings and finished tied at 10-1-1. The Raiders won a playoff, 2-1, on penalty kicks (3-1) to win the league title and the seeded berth into the state tournament.

Punahou is 11-4 in title games, while 'Iolani is 3-5. Yet in the combined 23 appearances in title games, they have met only twice. The Buffanblu won, 2-1, in 2011, and the Raiders won, 1-0, in 1987. 'Iolani is seeking its fourth title, but first since 1999.

In the penalty-kicks phase, each team sent up five kickers. They alternated shooters with Mililani up first.

After four rounds, the teams were tied at 2. Punahou's sophomore goalie Noelani Kong-Johnson didn't have to move to catch a chest-high shot from Mililani's Madison Reed. That brought up Ching, who delivered the game-winner past Trojans' goalie Tasalina Leoso.

"You just have to focus on what's going on right now," Kong-Johnson said of the penalty kicks phase. "If you think if anything, any other distractions, your mind is not going to right in that moment. You're not going to have your full attention dedicated to that shooter."

Each goalie saved the first penalty-kick attempt. Each team also had a kicker completely miss. Alisha Miyashiro and Casey Thompson were the only successful shooters for the Trojans, while Liana Lau and Megan Lau made theirs for the Buffanblu before Ching's.

"We have two really good goalkeepers that train really hard together against some of the best shooters in the state, including Dempsey Banks, who can really rip 'em," Johnson said. "They're used to seeing speed coming through the middle. They tested her and she had her composure and made some great saves. We have all the confidence in the world in her (Kong-Johnson)."

The Trojans scored the only goal of the first half at 21 minutes, 26 seconds. Tarryn Miyamura's throw-in toward the Punahou goal was headed by. Brittney Gideon toward TJ Reyno, who scored with a header.

Punahou tied it at the 50:13 mark when Lindsey Hodel scored from about 12 yards out after taking a pass from Banks.

Some 16 minutes later, Banks scored from about five yards after taking cross from Jensen Toner to put Punahou ahead, 2-1. It was the first time Mililani trailed this season.

But at 76:57, the Trojans tied it on a header by Mia Crail-Yusif off a direct kick from Miyashiro.

"We needed to do some reorganization defensively to mark off their players better," Johnson said of her team's halftime adjustment. "We weren't an attacking threat because we were confused defensively. We talked about what we needed to happen defensively, which freed up some players offensively. Once we had more offensive players, we were able to control the ball and play our game."

The Buffanblu came close to winning it in the first sudden-death OT when Banks had an open shot at point blank range that was stopped by Leoso just seconds before time expired.

The Trojans did the same in the second OT when Gideon had a point-blank shot that was stopped by Kong-Johnson.

It was a heart-breaker for the Trojans, who hadn't surrendered a goal all regular season, through the O'ahu Interscholastic Association tournament and Thursday's state quarterfinals.

"We were faced with a situation that we normally don't," Mililani coach Ray Akiona said. "Having a goal scored against us, the first goal in the regular season and postseason. But to be able to come back and play even with a team like Punahou, you have to be proud of that. When a shootout comes, it is what it is. It comes down to whoever was focused at that time and was going to make that play. They earned it so we wish the best for them."