Reed's golden goal pushes Trojans past Sabers


MILILANI — Mackenzie Reed's golden goal two minutes into overtime pushed No. 3 Mililani past visiting Campbell, 2-1, in overtime in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls soccer quarterfinal at John Kauinana Stadium Tuesday night.

The West top-seeded Trojans (9-0-2) rallied past the Sabers (7-4-1) to move on in the league tournament and secure a spot in the state tournament.

"I just saw Amber (Tadeo-Gilbert) dribbling down the line and I was wide open, so I was just running and I saw her play that ball and I knew I could make it," Reed recalled of the game-winning goal.

"I saw a defender and I saw space, I just ran straight to it, right in front of the defender and I shot it. I saw the goalie coming, so I was like, ‘oh, the goal is open,' I just hit it to the far side and it went in," said Reed, who plays the left outside-mid position after a move from defender earlier this season.

It was Reed's fourth consecutive game with a goal and her fifth of the season.

Mililani first-year coach Natalie Goo credited the passing of Jacey Jicha and Tadeo-Gilbert that led up to Reed's goal.

"That came from Jacey Jicha to Amber — so through the midfield, like how we wanted — and (Reed) has the speed to bear down on that ball and finish," Goo said.

The teams were in a scoreless tie at halftime before Campbell drew first blood with a Cheyenne Mattos goal four minutes into the second half. The freshman midfielder, who now has five goals on the season, also in Monday's 3-0 win over Roosevelt in the first round of the tournament.

"Campbell came out hot. I mean, they came out ready to play," said Goo, whose team enjoyed a first-round bye and was playing its first game in a week.

"It took us a little while to kind of get going," Goo said. "We knew they had a game yesterday, so still in that mode, we didn't have a game for a bit, so slow start, but we made some adjustments and it came out good."

The Trojans netted the equalizer on Amber Tadeo-Gilbert's team-leading 13th goal of the year in the 55th minute.

Goo said there was no panic when the Sabers pulled ahead early in the second half.

"They just need to play their game, play it through the midfield and then we'll be successful. We work a lot on possession, so we knew the girls could work around the defense and eventually score," said Goo, whose team defeated Campbell by the same score in the regular-season meeting on Dec. 21.

Mililani advances to meet West third seed Aiea in Thursday's semifinal round at Kaiser Stadium at 5:30 p.m. East top seed Moanalua will play West second seed Pearl City in the second semifinal.

All four semifinalists have secured one of the OIA's sixth berths in the Division I state tournament in two weeks. The league's final two spots will go to the winner of Wednesday's fifth-place semifinal doubleheader at Castle. Campbell will play Kaiser at 5:30 p.m. and Kapolei will take on Kailua in the late game.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].