Mid Pacific, Pac-Five play to scoreless tie

Mid-Pacific's Mari Tateishi gets set to strike the ball against Pac-Five. Brien Ing | SL

With the top spot in the ILH Division II standings up for grabs, division leading Mid Pacific and second-place Pac-Five played to a scoreless tie in a sunny afternoon game at Kapiolani Park.

The draw kept the Owls atop the standings over the Wolfpack by a full game, with five matches left to play in the regular season.

"It keeps us in first," remarked Owls' head coach David Pai. "Obviously we wanted the win because it would really put a stranglehold on first, but it keeps us a game up on them. So as long as we win out our Division II games we'll probably be okay."

After one half of play, the Wolfpack held a clear advantage in terms of possession, but were not able to capitalize on any scoring opportunities, thanks in large part to a bend-but-not-break defense.

"I think we did really well there was some really close calls at the goal and the defense did a really good job of keeping it out," said Mid-Pacific's Cobi Yoshimura.

The Owls did a much better job in the second half to push the issue on the offensive end, though that effort ultimately did not show up in the box score.

"I thought the effort was there," said Pai. "The second half we played a little better. I thought that the first half kind of played all defensive in the first half."

Next up for Mid-Pacific is a date at home against Punahou, while Pac-Five takes on Kamehameha at Kapiolani Park, both game are set for Tuesday, January 7 at 4:15 p.m.