Kaiser's Courtney Okazaki advances the ball against Moanalua. Timothy Ing | SL

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Kaiser players celebrate after scoring goal number two in the 70th minute against Moanalua. Timothy Ing | SL

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Moanalua's Storm Kenui battles a Kaiser player in midair. Timothy Ing | SL

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Kaiser's Jaylin Swartz heads the ball into the right corner of the goal against Moanalua. Timothy Ing | SL

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Wed, Jan 9, 2013 @ Kaiser

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Moanalua

0

Kaiser

2

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Moanalua (12-4-0)	0	0	-	-	-	0
Kaiser (14-2-1)	0	0	-	-	-	2

J. Swartz    C. Okazaki

Any pressure that Kaiser's Jaylin Swartz and Courtney Okazaki must have felt facing unbeaten and untied Moanalua in their final regular season home game probably was nowhere close to what both senior forwards and the rest of the Lady Cougars applied to the visiting Na Menehune in a windy afternoon affair at Kaiser Stadium.

Kaiser used relentless pressure the ball on defensively, and coupled that with an equal amount of attack pressure on the offensive end to wear down Moanalua in a 2-0 win to improve the Cougars to 9-0-1 on the season.

"It's amazing, especially because it is our Senior Night." said Swartz of the win. "We really wanted it and it showed out there."

Swartz's header near the right post in the 13th minute gave Kaiser the early advantage, as well as a surge of momentum that the home team rode nearly the entire game in a shutout victory on Senior Night.

"We had a throw in, and a Moanalua player headed it backwards towards me," said Swartz of her goal that gave the Cougars the early advantage, "so I ran in and headed it in."

The goal came as somewhat of a shell-shock to Na Menehune, who had never trailed up to this point all season.

It was certainly a boon for the Lady Cougars.

"It actually put a lot of energy into us," said Okazaki of Swartz's opening goal score, "knowing that we didn't want the game to go like how we played them (Moanalua) last year when we were 0-2 and caught up and tied it 2-2. We didn't want it to happen to us (again)."

Moanalua seemed on the cusp of making something happen at a number of junctures in the first half, with its best chance to equalize in the first half at the 25th minute mark, when Haley Graham brought Kaiser keeper Corina Edgington away from goal on a shot attempt that was deflected into the open area to the right of the goal, but the Cougars were able to clear the ball to end the threat.

Na Menehune would only get three shots on goal in the first half.

Despite the 1-0 lead heading into the second half, Kaiser continued to play with purpose, forcing Moanalua to endure another half of press coverage that seemed to take some what of toll on the Moanalua players.

"We ran a whole lot at practice, so I thought we were the better in-shape team." said Swartz.

Still, Na Menehune had three great shots at the equalizer, none better than an attempt off the foot of Hoku Afong in the 54th minute off a touch pass on a corner kick that was saved by the sure-handed Edgington.

"She has improved tremendously from last year," said Kaiser head coach Adolf Samuels of Edgington. "Just her presence now, because she has sure hands, it gets frustrating for teams because they don't many second chances."

The game remained very much in limbo through much of the second half, until in the 70th minute Okazaki got a pass from a teammate following yet another pressure-induced stolen ball on the Moanalua side of the field.

"Noelle Mercado played me a through-ball and I was one-on-one with a Moanalua defender," recalled Okazaki. "And I just cut by and shot it, and it ricocheted off the keeper and into the goal."

Okazaki's goal gave the Cougars an insurance goal that they desparately were seeking, but didn't really need, as Afong picked up a red card after she was issued her second yellow at around the 75 minute mark, and playing a man down would make the already difficult task of climbing out of 2-goal deficit just about insurmountable.

With the loss, Na Menehune fell to 9-1-0 in OIA East play.