Iolani's Kaisen Nakagawa made a pair of pivotal penalty-kick saves to lift Iolani to the ILH Division I title Tuesday afternoon. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Tue, Jan 31, 2017 @ Punahou

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Iolani

2

Punahou

1

Final/PK	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Iolani (10-3-2)	0	1	0	0	4	2
Punahou (13-2-2)	0	1	0	0	1	1

K. Srivongsana (79')   N. Williams (43')

MAKIKI — The third time proved to be a charm for Iolani.

Keanu Srivongsana scored the equalizing goal in the final minute of regulation and goalkeeper Kaisen Nakagawa came off the bench to make two pivotal penalty-kick saves to help Iolani rally to a 2-1 win over host Punahou in PKs (4-1) Tuesday afternoon.

A crowd of about 250 spectators on a chilly, blustery day at Punahou's Alexander Field saw the Raiders claim their first Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I title since 2015 and their 14th overall with the win.

Iolani notched its ninth win in its last 10 games, including four straight victories, to improve to 10-1-2. It will receive the ILH's top seed and a first-round bye in next week's Queen's Medical Center/HHSAA Division I State Championships.

After back-to-back state title game appearances — including their ninth championship in 2014 — the Raiders missed out on the state tournament last season.

"It's really satisfying especially since we missed out on states last year," said Srivongsana, a senior forward. "This year we picked it up and we were able to get that win today. Especially with those ties and losses, it was really important to win today."

In both previous meetings between the teams this season, Iolani failed to come away with a win. The first-round game — Dec. 14 at Punahou — resulted in a 2-0 Buffanblu win, while the second-round showdown — Jan. 18 at Iolani — ended in a 2-2 tie.

The win was especially satisfying for Nakagawa, who was promoted to the varsity at the conclusion of the JV season last month. Nakagawa was on the wrong end of a penalty-kick shootout against the Buffanblu JV in the not so distant past.

"We ended up losing to them in the fifth or sixth round (of penalty kicks)," Nakgawa recalled.

Nakagawa, a junior, did not start the match in goal, but entered with at approximately the 70-minute mark, with his team trailing by a goal.

Srivongsana gave the Raiders new life in the 79th minute when he capitalized on a misplayed ball by the Punahou goalkeeper.

"I saw the cross coming and then I just went around and the goalie missed it and I got here and I got the header," Srivongsana said.

It was his third goal of the year and sent the game into overtime.

After two scoreless 10-minute sudden-death overtime periods, the game headed to penalty kicks, where Nakagawa took over.

Nakagawa made a pair of diving saves to deny Punahou's first two shooters — Duncan McKenna and Max Moonier — while Tanner Shimomoto and Tyler Ebisuya put away Iolani's first two attempts.

"I was just guessing actually, but I just kind of reacted to the ball and whether it went left or right, I just tried to react as fast as I could," Nakagawa said.

Both team's third shooters — the Raiders' Lincoln Oishi and the Buffanblu's Sotaro Abe — converted their PKs before Alex Liu ended it with his shot into left side of the net.

"It feels great, actually, because playing JV I wanted to prove to Punahou that I could step up to the plate and eventually beat them, so being able to contribute, I'm very grateful to be playing with the varsity team," Nakagawa said. "It's kind of like a payback kind of thing. Before the shootout, I said a little prayer to myself and I vowed to myself that I would never lose to Punahou in a penalty shootout again."

Srivongsana didn't mince words about Nakagawa's heroics.

"He won it for us, pretty much, by saving those early PKs and taking the pressure of our shooters to just kick it in," Srivongsana said.

Lee was proud of the collective team effort.

"(Nakagawa) was one of the players that stepped up today, even the guy that scored the goal today, Keanu, he hadn't been playing very long, but he went in and got the job done," Lee said.

The teams played to a scoreless first half before Noah Williams put the Buffanblu ahead with his sixth goal of the season. The play started with McKenna running down a ball deep in Iolani territory. McKenna dropped it back to Williams, who blasted a right-footed, 25-yard shot into the lower right corner of the goal.

Punahou, the reigning state champion, lost its first game since Dec. 20 to fall to 9-2-2.