Kapolei's Josiah Ohara and Pearl City's Daniel Woo try to make a play on a ball in an OIA West boys soccer match Thursday night. CJ Caraang | SL

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Thu, Jan 5, 2017 @ Kapolei

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Kapolei

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Pearl City

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Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kapolei (12-1-2)	0	1	-	-	-	1
Pearl City (12-4-1)	0	1	-	-	-	1

S. Yoshida (71')   D. Yoshimura (75')

KAPOLEI — Eighty minutes was not enough to decide Thursday night's Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division boys soccer showdown between visiting Pearl City and host Kapolei.

The Chargers and Hurricanes played to a 1-all tie on a crisp, cool evening in front of about 200 fans at Kapolei Stadium.

The tie was enough to nudge Kapolei (6-0-2) one point ahead of idle Mililani into first place atop the seven-team D1 West, while Pearl City (6-1-1) pulled even with the Trojans (6-0-1) in a tie for second.

The teams went scoreless for the first 70 minutes of the match before Kapolei scored on Sean Yoshida's header off an assist from Eric Aquino.

However, Pearl City got the equalizing goal just four minutes later on a play that started with a Justice Gomes free kick that found a hard-charging Devan Yoshimura, who headed it into the right side of the goal.

The Chargers got the free kick after a Kapolei foul and subsequent yellow card a few yards outside the 18-yard box on the right side of the field. Gomes booted a low, driving ball near the front post and Yoshimura knocked it past the defenseless Hurricanes' goal keeper.

Kawano credited Gomes for placing the ball in the perfect spot, and Yoshimura for being in the right spot.

"We set the plays, but it's really up to them to call it," Kawano said. "I don't dictate any call on the field, so they made the right call and they crashed that goal perfectly."

Yoshimura's goal — his sixth of the season — came with just over five minutes left to play.

"Originally I thought in my head we were going to get overwhelmed by their ability to play because they're a really good team, but we pulled through," said Yoshimura, a junior midfielder. "We played as hard as we could and we made things happen."

Pearl City coach Derek Kawano commended the effort from his players for all 80 minutes.

"Kapolei played hard, they stuck to their game plan and they got the goal late, but I'm just proud that our boys were able to find themselves and dig in and get that goal back," Kawano said.

Across the pitch, Kapolei co-head coach Ryan Lau was understandably less enthusiastic about the result.

"I thought there were a couple things we could have done better in those last 10 minutes to alleviate (Pearl City) getting that set piece for that goal-scoring opportunity, but hats off to them. They got the opportunity and they made the most of it," Lau said. "We're proud of the way our boys competed. It was a very combative game. Pearl City wasn't going to give us anything easy."

The Hurricanes had double (10) the amount of shots on goal the Chargers did (five). Three of their eight corner kicks came within the first nine minutes, but none found the back of the net.

"I think we had some opportunities in the second half where we got shots on goal — whether it be we missed some headers or I think mid-second half we hit the crossbar — but the opportunities were there," Lau said.

Pearl City saw a couple of scoring chances within minutes of each other go by the wayside. Daniel Woo's direct free kick from 25 yards out in the 27th minute missed wide right and Luke Wyman's shot on goal from 15 yards away was saved by the goalie in the 30th minute.

In the 59th minute, Yoshida served a cross into the box, but Aquino's header attempt went off the crossbar and the Chargers defense cleared it. About 10 minutes later, Sam Wren flicked a ball over his shoulder and to Aquino across the box, who managed to get his head on it, but the ball went just over the crossbar.

"I thought Eric was fantastic," Lau said of the sophomore. "He has the ability to play central and out wide, he's a good one-v-one player, he strikes the ball well with his right foot and utilizing him out there helps alleviate (leading scorer) Garrison (Lee) and (Yoshida)."

The Hurricanes finally broke though in the 71st minute. Aquino dropped a pass back to Yoshida, who was about 10 yards away fronting the middle of the box, and the junior forward flicked it to the top right corner of the goal for his fourth goal of the season.

For Lau, there is most certainly a silver lining in the tie.

"The one thing we told the boys is that these types of games are a character-building opportunity," Lau said. "It's an opportunity to, we like to use the phrase ‘steel our spine.' We're going to be faced with those moments whether we're down a goal or in this case, we're up a goal with 10 minutes to go and how do we finish this game? Tonight isn't a loss, but it gives us an opportunity to find out how do we handle that situation."

Both teams wrap up the regular season with a pair of games next week.