Pearl City girls celebrate after beating Kaiser in a penalty kick shootout to win the OIA Red title. Sylvia Lee | SL

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012414_SL-GS-KAIS_PC-3210.jpg - Sylvia Lee | SL

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KAPOLEI - Long shot Pearl City, the Western Division's fifth seed, got a late score from its leading scorer and got a perfect performance from its penalty-kicks goalkeeper to stop Kaiser, 2-1, Friday night to capture the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red girls' soccer championship at Kapolei stadium.

It was Pearl City's first title since 2008 and eighth overall.

"To play two overtimes and two shootouts two days in a row, I am so proud of these kids," Pearl City coach Dr. Frank Baumholtz III said.

The Chargers (10-4) have secured one of the four seeded berths for the Division I state tournament set for Feb. 5-8 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex. The Cougars (11-2), who lost in the title game for the second consecutive year, also qualifies for the tournament.

Technical issues prevented the OIA White and Red title games from being televised live by OC 16, which will play recordings of the games starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Trailing 1-0, the Chargers tied the game at 1 on Tasha Inong chip shot from about two yards in the 76th minute. Bethany Nazareno was near the left post when she tapped the ball toward the middle, where Inong said she nudged it in from within two yards. It stayed tied the rest of the way.

After two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods, the game went into penalty kicks for the second night in a row for both teams. Pearl City prevailed, 3-0. It was over after Pearl City's third shooter, as Kaiser failed to make one shot after three tries. Once again, 5-foot-8 Jordan Gomes, a halfback during the game and the OTs, guarded the goal for the Chargers. She had prevailed the night before in PKs against Castle.

After a scoreless first half, Kaiser took the lead on Noelle Mercado's kick from about 20 yards that sailed over the out-stretched arms of the leaping Chargers' keeper Bali Ariela in the 69th minute.

Unlike the regular season, when tied games go straight to penalty kicks, postseason has two 10-minute sudden death overtime periods preceding the penalty kicks phase.

Kaiser went up first in the shootout, but Mercado's attempt was deflected and hit off the cross bar. Pearl City's Inong responded with a goal to make it 1-0.

Kaiser's Alicia Chang went right with her shot, but Gomes made the right read and stopped the shot. Pearl City increased its lead when Erin Okuna made her shot past Kaiser goalie Corina Edgington.

"I didn't guess," Gomes said. "I read it."

Allyson Matsuoka came up for Kaiser, but her shot sailed wide right. Haley Honda clinched it for Pearl City with her shot.

Kaiser coach Adolph Samuels said it was good strategy on Pearl City to use a tall keeper in the penalty kicks phase.

"She makes the goal look small," Samuels said of Gomes. "When you go out there with somebody tall, the (shooters) change their shot. That was good on (Pearl City's) part."

It was the sixth OIA title game to be decided by penalty kicks.

Baumholtz had a good feeling before the game. Despite having played one more game because it was the West's fifth seed and were coming a penalty-kicks win the night before, the Chargers showed no weariness.

"When they showed up today, they were all giggling," Baumholtz said of his players. "When they warmed up, they were like little girls, all having a good time. Some of the girls who were hurt were limping around a bit, but as the warmup went on, they stopped limping. Enthusiasm over everyone just caught on and when they walked on the field today, they were ready to play."

The Chargers had been riding an emotional trip all season.

"We dedicated this game to Tiffany Joy Nakagawa, who passed away this (past) March," Baumholtz said. "She was one of our sophomore players last year. That kind of inspired them; they wore blue ribbons before the game. They were playing for Tiffany and playing for themselves."

Nakagawa, 15, died on March 2, 2013, after suffering from an aneurysm, according to the Hawaii Rush Soccer website.