Kapolei's Kassidy Lee attempts to beat an Iolani defender down field. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kapolei players celebrate after defeating top-seeded Iolani. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Iolani's Kylee Kim-Bustillos battles Kapolei's Kelli Fryxell for possession. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Iolani's Emily Tanaka attempts to get past a Kapolei defender. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kapolei's Kelli Fryxell knocked home this ball in the ninth-minute for a goal against Iolani. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Thu, Feb 6, 2014 @ Waipio

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Kapolei

1

Iolani

0

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

K. Fryxell

WAIPAHU — Kelii Fryxell had the magic touch Thursday night. 

The junior midfielder's goal in the ninth minute was enough to give Kapolei a 1-0 upset victory over top-seeded Iolani in a quarterfinal game of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Girls Soccer State Championships.

The Hurricanes, who were unseeded in the 12-team tournament after finishing third in the Oahu Interscholastic Association, improved to 13-2 before a crowd of 813 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium and advanced into Friday's semifinal round. The Raiders, last year's state champion, dropped their first game of the year to fall to 10-1-2.

"We weren't supposed to win, but we won and it feels great," Fryxell said. "It feels awesome to score the goal to beat Iolani."

Iolani had a bye in the first-round Wednesday and had not played since Jan. 25. The Raiders entered the game having outscored the opposition by a margin of 56 to 2 and posted eight wins by shutout on the year.

"It was a really big win for us," said junior midfielder Shandy Hopeau, who assisted Fryxell on her goal. "We all came out having the mentality in our heads that we're not supposed to win. It's supposed to be two ILH teams in the championship and for us to even be in the semifinals is pretty big."

Fryxell's goal — her third of the season — was Kapolei's only shot on goal in the entire match. Iolani registered five shots on goal, but Kapolei goal keeper Arielle Stoyanow denied each one. The Hurricanes didn't even take a single corner kick in the game.

"We scored early and my biggest fear was that we would score early and then not be able to keep up," Kapolei coach Brian Beck said. "Sometimes when you're playing a (team) that you know is a little more talented, a little bit more physical and can control the ball more, you might put one in and then they wake up and then all of a sudden they open the flood gates. I didn't think that we could do it, honestly. You know, in the back of my mind I'm thinking that I don't think that we can hold them for that long, but it was awesome that we did it and sometimes in the world of soccer, that's just what happens. Sometimes you have to hold on like that."

The scoring play was set-up by an Iolani foul that gave Kapolei a direct free kick from about 35 yards out. Hopeau took the kick, which bounced once in the 18-yard box before it found the head of Fryxell near the back post. Fryxell then redirected the ball between Iolani goalie Katie Yuu and the left post.

"Usually when (Hopeau) kicks the ball, it finds my head — because I have a magic head — and she always looks for me on the back post and it usually works," said Fryxell, who found an opening in the Raiders' defense. "I was really surprised they left me open, but I had a man on me originally, but I think I lost her when I sprinted. She didn't think I was going to get to the ball."

Beck said the result was the product of much practice.

"That's a designed play we have," Beck said. "We have a couple (players) that we look for and Kelli on the back post was the one on that play. Right before Shandy took it, I said, 'Let's go to Kelli,' and so kind of she made sure that she hooked it in and got it to the back post and we try to let it bounce and then she heads it in and that's kind of what we work at in practice; getting that one bounce and then her coming off of it with her body with just anything that she can use to get it in."

Iolani had numerous chances late in the first half around the goal, but was unable to put any in the net. In the second half, however, Kapolei added a defender and played up top with just one forward, which made it difficult for the Raiders to penetrate the Hurricanes' defense.

"We definitely changed our formation there a little bit because I knew that Iolani was dropping the ball into their forwards and then knocking it back so we wanted to put a couple of extra girls back ther," Beck said. 

Iolani coach Kristin Masunaga said the change — which resulted in as many as eight Hurricanes' dropping back into defense at times — was tough to overcome.

"It's difficult and we just couldn't — they kept blocking out crosses and we tried to push more people up, but it just got more congested," Masunaga said.

The Raiders played without their leading scorer in Pikake Kaneshiro, who suffered a knee injury in their final regular-season game.

"That definitely hurt because she just brings this energy," Masunaga said. "I don't think we played our best, but we didn't play bad. (Kapolei) had one shot on goal and they scored that and that's just the way the game goes sometimes.

The Hurricanes' upset completed an unlikely scenario with all four top seeding losing in the quarterfinal round for the first time since 1998. In other quarterfinals Thursday, Kamehameha defeated No. 3-seed Kamehameha-Maui 3-0, Aiea toppled fourth seed Konawaena 2-0 and Mililani beat No. 2 seed Pearl City 3-0.

Kapolei will play Aiea in a 5 p.m. semifinal Friday with Mililani taking on Kamehameha in the semifinal to follow.