Roosevelt, Castle play to a draw to open season

Roosevelt's Summerly Smith (left) and Castle's Amaia Rivera (right) each netted a goal on the way to a 2-2 draw. Leighland Tagawa | SL

MAKIKI — Roosevelt and Castle battled it out to a 2-2 draw at Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium Wednesday night.

The Rough Riders and the Knights now sit at 0-0-1 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division standings. This was the first game for new Castle head coach Brianna Bean.

In the first half, Roosevelt put a lot of pressure on the Castle defense.

Taylor Caporus was a force in midfield and struck the crossbar early in the game. Roosevelt had a another great chance on a breakaway by Charley Lau, but Castle goalkeeper Eryn Nagaishi made a fantastic one-on-one save. Nagaishi would go on to make a total of seven saves throughout the game.

However, Castle was the one to find the opening goal.

In the 19th minute, junior Amaia Rivera hit a corner kick near goal and the Roosevelt goalie bobbled the ball into her own goal.

The Rough Riders continued to pressure and eventually scored the equalizer before halftime. Junior Summerly Smith latched on to a nice cross and hit a shot over the diving Nagaishi in the 34th minute.

In the second half, Roosevelt continued to dominate time of possession. But once again, Castle took the lead against the run of play. Senior Paige Garcia blasted her 40-yard free kick over the head of Roosevelt's keeper in the 49th minute to make it 2-1, Knights.

But just like in the first half, Roosevelt would come back to tie the game up at 2-2 all.

In the 59th minute, Caporus weaved through midfield and hit a wicked 35-yard shot that bent away from the diving Nagaishi.

Castle will host Kailua on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. while Roosevelt will host Kahuku at 3:30 p.m.