Kalani gets pair of goals from Fuse in windy win over Kaiser

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kalani got a pair of goals by Shane Fuse in a 2-0 victory over rival Kaiser on a wind-swept evening at the Ted Fukushima Athletic Complex.

The match between the two schools was originally scheduled as a day game at the Falcons' home field, but issues with the playing surface necessistated a change of venue, and coupled with even stronger than usual winds funneling down from Kamiloiki Valley, made for pretty challenging conditions.

Whether a combination of weather or defensive tactics, or both, the chances in the match were somewhat limited, but on both goals for the Falcons, it was Fuse who was in the right place at the right time for each.

In the 18th minute, the Falcons earned a corner kick, which Kai Van Rijsbergen placed just off the back post, where Fuse connected with it mid flight and directed it past the keeper for the opening score of the game.

"We were aiming for the back post," said Fuse. "Because we have a lot of tall guys, a lot of dominant air guys, we send them in a bunch of places, and I happened to be at the back. It came to me and luckily I scored."

Later in the 72nd minute, Kalani had a throw in near the back line and converted the opportunity for an insurance score that all but put the game out of reach.

"So, it was deflected up and Alex (Andrade Portillo) came rushing in and I told him just dink it over the line," said Fuse. "I was right on defensive line and stayed onsides, and just rushed (in) for the score."

Despite the goal lead for much of the match, Kaiser played sound defensively despite much of the game being played on their half, but found very little space to operate in the area of attack.

"The wind was coming our way in the second half, so we dropped off more (defensively) in the second half just like Kaiser did (in the first)," said Van Rijsbergen.

Fuse actually remarked the change of venue was not a bad thing, despite the blustery conditions.

"It was good that we switched the game to Kaiser, because at (our) home (field) we don't know what's going to happen because of the bumpy ground," said Fuse. "We played the game like coach wanted and we executed properly."

The win over the Cougars improved the Falcons' record to 2-0-0 on the season, just a point behind Kahuku, the only other undefeated team in the East at 2-0-1.