Kaiser's Cori Papapa elevates for a header attempt against Moanalua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Alea Amano connects on a header attempt against Moanalua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser's Kai Hasegawa battles for control of the ball against two Moanalua defenders. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Moanalua's Haley Graham and Kaiser's Brooke Arita battle for possession. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Kaiser players celebrate after a penalty kick shootout win over Moanalua. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Brien Ing | SL

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Wed, Jan 15, 2014 @ Moanalua

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Kaiser

2

Moanalua

1

Final/PK	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kaiser (12-3-1)	0	0	0	0	0	2
Moanalua (10-4-0)	0	0	0	0	0	1

H. Graham    A. Amano

A full moon presiding overhead was a fitting spectator for yet another crazy finish between the Cougars and Na Menehune.

Cougars' midfielder Alea Amano knocked home the equalizer off a deflected ball in the 77th minute to force the game into a penalty kick shootout, and Cori Papapa beat the keeper with a well-placed shot in the top right corner of the goal to lift Kaiser to a 2-1 win over Moanalua.

"We've been playing against Moanalua for ages and there's been times that she (Moanalua head coach Nikki Dela Pena) pulled it out at the end. Everytime me and Nikki play against each other, something like this happens," said Kaiser head coach Adolf Samuels.

A silenced crowd at Moanalua stadium watched both goalies deflected shots to keep things knotted at 0-0 after the first cycle of penalty kicks. From there, both teams converted on the next three chances, but on the fourth rotation, a bounding shot by Moanalua bounced just wide of both the Kaiser keeper and the goal, setting up the game winner for Papapa.

"I was super nervous at first. But at practice we've been doing PKs and our team felt really confident," said Papapa, who played in her first full game tonight after missing almost the entire season due to an injury sustained in the preseason.

"It feels so good," remarked Papapa on being back on the pitch. "To be back with out my sisters its an amazing feeling. And to win in PKs after we worked so hard on them in practice, it just amazing."

Momentum was clearly favoring Kaiser in the sudden death shootout, who just minutes earlier was in scramble mode, but got the chance it needed when a foul on Brooke Arita in the box set up a penalty kick chance for Allyson Matsuoka. The senior midfielder rifled a shot that was nicely deflected by the Moanalua keeper back into the field of play, and play seemed to pause as the stop was a surprise to just about everyone on the field.

Amano likely was not, as she alertly pounced on the live ball and snuck it past the keeper to even the score.

"For some strange feeling that it was gonna rebound, everyone crashed the goal, and then it rebounded and there it was," said Amano.

The score was just what the Cougars were hoping for, on the ropes after a pretty goal by Na Menehune midfielder Haley Graham, who recieved the ball on the right edge and proceeded to manuever her way past multiple Kaiser defenders into scoring position, where she arched a shot just over the leaping keeper to give Moanalua the lead in the 71st minute.

"We were aware of her the whole night, and players like that, they play hard the whole game. You can see, she was waiting for her chance," remarked Samuels. "She kinda reminded me of (former Moanalua player) Tiana Fujimoto, we would mark her the whole game, shut her down, and then ten minutes left in the game she would score two goals on us. That's the kind of player Haley is."

The frenetic finish to the game in the final minutes was in stark contrast to the first half, where both defenses limited the number and quality of opportunities.

Moanalua had an early chance in the 12th minute, when Jennifer Tsutsui found Haley Graham open on the left wing but the Kaiser defense was able to thwart the chance.

Graham had a number of long runs down that left wing in the first half, but the backfield for the Cougars, anchored by Alicia Chang and Brooke Arita, consistently kept Na Menehune from any real chances at the goal for much of the game.

"The biggest surprise in the back for (Chang) has been the play of Brooke Arita, she's been really supporting (her) in the backfield.  Brooke is like the most improved player on our team," said Samuels.

The lone shot on goal for the Cougars in the first half came at the 15th minute mark, when Kai Hasegawa got off a dribbling shot attempt just outside the box, but the attempt was easily controlled by Na Menehune keeper Kacie Fujio.

A misplayed ball in the final moments of the first half presented a great chance for Kaiser to get on the board but a struck ball from just inside the box sailed harmlessly to keep the game scoreless.

Both teams certainly made up for the lack of offense in the first second coming out of the intermission.

Kaiser wasted little time, as Lina Takada's shot glanced off the left post in the 42nd minute and a got another chance when Matsuoka put a shot on goal just two minutes later, but the attempt was gobbled up by Na Menehune keeper Kacie Fujio. Yet another save by Fujio off of a Kaiser direct kick kept things scoreless through 55 minutes of play.

The home team had their share of golden opportunities as well, none better than a perfect pass by Hoku Afong to an open Graham just feet from the goal. Thankfully for the Cougars, keeper Corina Edgington scrambled to make a diving grab just ahead of a charging Graham to end the threat.

Edgington stopped 7-of-9 shots on goal, while her counterpart Fujio converted on 6-of-9 save chances.

Both teams will pick up play next week in the OIA Red playoffs, with Kaiser securing the top seed at 9-1 and Moanalua seeded third, with Castle holding wins over both Kahuku and Na Menehune to break a three-way tie at 8-2.