Falcons rout Sabers, will face Trojans in semis


The Falcons celebrate after a goal by Kalani's Brison Kim (6). Eric Nakamura | Special to SL

MILILANI — Brison Kim scored on a pair of set-pieces and No. 4 Kalani cruised to a 5-0 win over Campbell in the quarterfinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys soccer tournament at John Kauinana Stadium Tuesday night.

The Falcons, who finished second in the Eastern Division and had a bye in Monday's first round of the 12-team bracket, improved to 10-1 with their fifth consecutive victory and will face No. 2 Mililani in a 7 p.m. semifinal Thursday at Kaiser Stadium.

The West third-seeded Sabers fell to 7-3-2 and will play Kailua in a consolation game, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Castle.

Kalani did most of its scoring in latter portion of the first half. It scored four goals during a 17-minute span, with Kim accounting for the first two.

Jonathan Casey's free kick in the 20th minute found the head of Kim, who elevated amongst a cluster of players near the top of the six-yard box and put away the chance into the right side of the goal.

"Somebody just got fouled and then I settled back post — just like practice — it was a long ball in, Johnny played a good ball and I just head it in," Kim said.

About seven minutes later, a Campbell foul gave Kim a look at a free kick from about 28 yards out. Kim's shot curved around a two-man wall of Saber defenders and just inside the right post.

"They left the front post wide open, so I just saw it and I just went for it," Kim said. "The other day at practice I was practicing that free kick over and over until I got it and then I just did it perfectly in the game and I was happy about that."

The Falcons added a pair of goals before halftime when Minjae Kim put away a second chance in front of the net in the 32nd minute and Marc Anthony Cabrera converted a penalty kick in the 37th after Campbell was whistled for a handball in the box.

Kalani closed out the scoring with Dylan Catian's penalty kick late in the match — about four minutes into extra time.

The Falcons tallied 16 shots on goal and 25 in all, while the Sabers were held to just one shot on goal.

All 10 of the corner kicks taken in the match were by Kalani, which used all 27 players suited up for the game.

"It's good, but I mean, we're in shape," Brison Kim said. "We run all season long, every day, so we're ready to play all 80 minutes or more, so we're good."

Campbell was coming off a hard-fought win in PKs over East sixth seed Moanalua Monday.

The Falcons' win also secured one of the OIA's sixth spots in the upcoming Queen's Medical Center/HHSAA State Championships, which gets underway on Feb. 4.

No. 2 MILILANI 3, KAILUA 0: Three different players scored a goal to lift the West top-seeded Trojans (11-0) past the East fourth-seeded Surfriders (6-5-1) in the late quarterfinal at Kauinana Stadium Tuesday night.

Josh Ishizaka opened the scoring in the second minute off a throw-in by Noah Ungos. Seven minutes later Manhattan Fukunaga put away a chance off of another restart and in the 36th minute, Jvon Cunningham split a pair of defenders before finding the back of the net.

"First half we did what we were supposed to, second half, we kind of took a half-step back and just kind of got through the game, which was important, but first half looked really crisp at times and we were able to cause problems and get good looks," Mililani coach Steven McGehee said.

It was the fourth time that Kailua has been shut out this season. McGehee said he employed a not-so-complicated strategy to try and slow down Surfriders' standout midfielder Noah Larson, who netted two of his team's three goals in a win over West fifth seed Radford in Monday's first round.

"Not let him touch the ball," McGehee quipped. "He's a talented kid. He really ran the show for them (Monday), so I mean, our best defense is us having the ball and we were lucky enough to do that for the good first half."

The Trojans, who enjoyed a first-round bye, recorded their third shut out in as many games and their eighth overall.

"We've got a tough game against Kalani, and then if we're lucky enough to get to the final, I'm sure it'll be another tough game," McGehee said.

Mililani and Kalani will play in the late game of a semifinal doubleheader at Kaiser Stadium Thursday. The first semifinal will kick off at 5:30 p.m. and will feature No. 8 Kapolei, a 5-0 winner over Roosevelt Tuesday, taking on seventh-ranked Kaiser, which pulled out a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Pearl City.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].