Marlie Mandaguit scored two goals to help Ka Makani claim its second state championship in a row over the Owls. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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022115_HM_GOAL_2251.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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WAIPAHU - Top-seeded Hawaii Prep defended its title with a resounding 5-1 win against second-seeded Mid-Pacific Institute Saturday night at the Outrigger Resorts Division II state girls' soccer tournament at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

"I  could not ask for a better senior year," HPA co-captain Gabbie Ewing said. "It's amazing, but winning it this year, I couldn't ask for anything more."

Marlie Mandaguit ignited Ka Makani (14-1) with two first-half goals after MPI (7-6-2) took an early 1-0 about half way through the first half.

Hawaii Prep dominated the second half with goals from Gabbie Ewing, Bri Vallente and Kaui Taylor.

The five goals were the most in a D2 title game. The previous high was two on four occasions. Although MPI beat HPA, 3-2, in 2011, the deciding point came from the penalty-kick session.

"They're a talented group," veteran HPA coach Stephen Perry said. "When they're on, they're good. This is the deepest team I've ever had, skill all over from one to 11…They're a great group of girls. They work so hard."

Mid-Pacific, meanwhile, had depth issues and came off an exhausting semifinal 2-1 win against Kapaa that was decided by penalty kicks on Friday.

'i was worried about the physicalness of this game," first-year MPI coach Shailesh Mehta said. "Yesterday, we got beat up by Kapaa. It was double overtime, so we had only a few players to sub in and out. Because of injuries, we were down to two or three subs.

"We got the early lead, but unfortunately, we were playing on our heels most of the times because these girls (HPA) are bigger, stronger. I think a little bit of fear got the best of us."

Although Ka Makani increased their leads to 3-1 and 4-1 in the second half, their defense never let up. They were going to make the Owls earn their goals.

"They have so much composure and that comes from Gabbie (Ewing) and Tea (Knoll)…Mailani (Neal)," Perry said. "They're seniors and they're a special group."

The Owls scored first just five minutes into the game on Kayla Watanabe's goal from six yards.

But tKa Makani came back 10 minutes later when Marlie Mandaguit on a booming 40-yarder that sailed over 6-foot tall keeper Monica Mack to tie the game at 1.

"I was just trying to catch the keeper off guard," Mandaguit said. "When she was off-balanced, I saw an opportunity and luckily, it bounced our way."

Mandaguit wasted little time giving her team the lead when she scored from a modest eight yards four minutes later. Ka Makani took that 2-1 lead into the half.

But fatigue apparently started to kick in on the Owls. Two minutes into the half, Ewing scored from 10 yards to increase HPA's lead to 3-1.

In the 60th minute, Bri Vallente scored from the top of the goal area after taking pass from Kaui Taylor, who made several nice moves to shake her defender to make the pass to Vallente to set up an easy goal.

"We were offsides and then I tried to hold the ball as long as possible so (Vallente) could re-run and get on, plus she had a better angle than I did."

Taylor would get a goal of her own in the 78th minute to wrap the game up.

This was the fourth consecutive year the two teams faced for the title. Some of the players became close, especially after MPI visited HPA for a preseason tournament. MPI senior midfielder Janaye Shepherd gave lei to some of the HPA players.

"Since we played them for four years, we kind of know each other," Shepherd said. "We went to the Big Island and played each other, so we just got a little close."

Division II All-Tournament Team

    Caitlyn Cantorna, Kauai

    Jordan Grainger, Hawaii Prep

    Kaisha Davis-Caberto, Kapaa

    Marlie Mandaguit, Hawaii Prep

    Jamie Saito, Pac-Five

    Janaye Shepherd, Mid-Pacific

    Kaui Taylor, Hawaii Prep

    Bri Vallente, Hawaii Prep

    Kayla Watanabe, Mid-Pacific

    Kekai Wong Yuen, KS-Hawaii

    Goalkeeper: Taimane Kamaka, Hawaii Prep

    Most Outstanding Player: Gabbie Ewing, Hawaii Prep