Aiea takes down Castle, advances to face East top seed Kaiser

Leighland Tagawa | SL

It was a battle of the West side against the East side as the Aiea Na Aliʻi soccer team took a rather easy 6-1 win over the Castle Knights at Alex Kane Stadium at Kailua High School on Monday.

Both teams were evenly matched throughout the entire opening stanza. In the eighth minute, Aiea's Kelly Takara took a shot from teammate Rycin Crisostomo, but it went too high. Laakea Fernandez was there to pick up the pieces and scored the only goal from either team in the first half. Castle players were there scrambling for the ball every which way, but ultimately, Aiea ended the first half up 1-0.

The Knights kept trying in the second half, but Aiea had answered efficiently. In the 41st minute, Aiea earned another goal courtesy of Takara, which was assisted by Skye Ventura-Kahookele to make it 2-0 in the way of Aiea. Ventura-Kahookele earned himself a goal nine minutes later, which was assisted by Chanson Kodama. Castle finally got on the board via an own goal to make it 3-1; unfortunately, that would be the only score of the game for the Knights. Takara added a second goal in the 62nd minute, followed by Sye Sandobal at the 67th minute, and a freekick from Reicin Crisostomo at the 78th minute. Castle couldn't respond at all, and that was all she wrote.

Despite the win, Aiea coach Qaylan Malama emphasizes there's still things to clean up on.

"In the first half, we let them play in too much space, but I think we fixed it towards the end," Malama said.

There was a point in the second half where Bryson Ranit got a little heated on the field with a Castle player, but Malama was okay with that.

"It's natural for any human being, not just a teenager, to show emotions," Malama said. "I'm fine with being emotional, but there is a way to direct that energy, and that's the focus for a lot of my players."

Malama emphasized there's still room for improvement.

"The most important thing is if we transition, attack and defend," Malama said. "The teams that attack and defend the quickest find the most success."

Aiea improved to 8-3-0 overall and in the OIA, while Castle dropped to 5-5-1. The Na Aliʻi will next take on the Kaiser Cougars (9-0-1) at Kaiser High School on Tuesday, Feb. 15. Game is scheduled for 7 p.m. HST.