Kaiser's Noelle Mercado headers in the equalizer in the final moments of regulation against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kaiser's Alea Amano battles for possession of the ball against Kapolei's Alyssa Yoshida. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kapolei's Alyssa Yoshida gets set to strike the ball against Kaiser. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kaiser's Kai Hasegawa heads the ball against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kaiser players celebrate after a goal scored against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Thu, Jan 23, 2014 @ Kapolei

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Kapolei

1

Kaiser

2

Final/PK	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kapolei (13-4-0)	0	0	0	0	0	1
Kaiser (12-3-1)	0	0	0	0	0	2

A. Yoshida    N. Mercado

KAPOLEI — A second chance only took one year to come around.

Lifted by Noelle Mercado's miraculous 79th minute goal in regulation and the steady play of goal keeper Corina Edgington, Kaiser pulled out a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Kapolei in a semifinal game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference Tournament Thursday night.

A crowd of about 200 fans on a chilly night at Kapolei High School — and a statewide television audience on OC16 — witnessed the Cougars improve to 11-1 on the year and advance to the league championship for a second consecutive year. Kaiser, which lost to Mililani in that game, will try for its second OIA crown in school history and first since 1997.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Edgington, whose deflection of Kapolei's Jenna Tomei in the sixth round of penalty kicks sealed the Cougars' victory. "It's such a feeling of success that I've never really felt before and I'm sure my teammates would agree with me."

The game was scoreless for the first 55 minutes until freshman Alyssa Yoshida scored for the Hurricanes from 25 yards out on a right-footed blast that bounced off the left post and past Edgington into the goal.

It wasn't until the second-to-last minute of regulation that the Cougars got on the board. Mercado, a junior midfielder, netted her seventh goal of the season on a header to tie it. The play began with a corner kick by Allyson Matsuoka from the left side of the field.

The last-minute heroics are hardly anything new for Kaiser, which rallied to beat Moanalua just over a week ago on a 77th minute goal that sent it to penalty kicks.

"Our team this year, we've pulled out three games like that," Kaiser coach Adolph Samuels said. This team, we call them the cardiac Cougars, but they always come through at the end and they persevere over adversity. I told them it wouldn't be easy tonight playing here at Kapolei against them and that they would have to go all the way through the end of game and they pulled it out. It was unreal."

The late goal seemed to rejuvenate the Cougars, while the Hurricanes began to tire in overtime.

"I think after they scored toward the end, I think we kind of freaked out a little bit," Kapolei coach Brian Beck said. "We still possessed the ball up top a little bit toward the end, but I think the shock of it happening so late was difficult."

Edgington said Mercado's goal was just what her team needed to get going.

"It was something that gave us a second chance, a second life and we caught fire after that," said Edgington, who made seven saves on the night.

The teams remained tie after two 10-minute overtime periods and went to penalty kicks nearly two hours after the game began.

Mercado was first to shoot for Kaiser and scored. Kapolei missed its ensuing kick, however, Kaiser returned the favor on its next turn. Paige Mahuka made good on her try for Kapolei to tie it at 1-1 after two rounds. The next three shooters for each team scored and the teams went to a sixth round tied at 4-all.

Lina Takada put Kaiser ahead with her shot just inside of the left post that froze Kapolei goal keeper Arielle Stoyanow. Edgington didn't have to move on Tomei's shot, which went to the middle of the goal and was easily blocked.

"We've been practicing (penalty kicks) at practice — almost every other practice for the last three or four weeks — so I've had a lot of repetition with my PKs," Edgington said. "All I tell myself is I have to go out there and do it. I'm not the one that's getting the pressure put it, it's the shooter (who has the pressure)."

Samuels had plenty of praise for his goalie after the game.

"We lose her after this year and right now I'm stressing out about next year because I really don't have a keeper for next year," Samuels said. "As you can see, when you have a keeper like that, it's a big difference."

The Cougars' win — its fifth straight victory — puts them into Friday's championship game against Pearl City, which defeated Castle in penalty kicks in the other semifinal.

The Hurricanes, who allowed just their second goal all season in the loss, saw a five-game win streak snapped. They will play Castle in the 5:30 p.m. third-place game at Pearl City Friday.