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Wild night in Division I girls state soccer tourney


For the first time since 1998, all four of the seeded teams in the girls' soccer state tournament saw their chase for a championship come to an end on the same night.

Thursday's quarterfinal round was unkind to the four league champions in the 12-team tournament: No. 1 seed Iolani suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Kapolei, No. 2 seed Pearl City fell 3-0 to Mililani, No. 3 seed Kamehameha-Maui lost 3-0 to Kamehameha-Kapalama and No. 4 Konawaena was upended up Aiea 2-0.

The Raiders, who are the ILH and reigning D1 state champs, took their first loss of the year at a bad time. Aside from a pair of ties against league-rival Kamehameha, they dominated their opponents this season to the tune of 56 goals scored to two goals allowed. Against Kapolei Thursday, they allowed just one shot on goal — which the Hurricanes converted into the only score of the game.

"We were the third seed out of the OIA and having to win one game then having to play the number one seed in the tournament — we thought, well you know what, we dont want an easy route," Kapolei coach Brian Beck said. "You're going to need to take out an ILH team — possibly two — so that was our motivation, just to get here and then after that, you know, whatever happens, happens."

The Chargers were considered by some the Cinderella story of this year's tournament. They finished fifth in the seven-team OIA Red West and made a memorable run to win the league crown two weeks ago, but their magic ultimately ran out against the Trojans, who shutout them out for the second time this season.

Kamehameha-Maui, like the three other top seeds, had a bye in Wednesday's first round and entered the tournament with an unblemished 12-0 record, but were no match for ILH runner-up Kamehameha-Kapalama, who got three first-half goals from three different players (none of which were leading scorer Kiani Halushka).

The Wildcats came into Thursday with a 10-2-1 record and a BIIF championship in hand, but left Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium with nothing to show for it following the shutout loss against Na Alii. Aiea is perhaps the hottest team left in the final four, having upset OIA runner-up and Red East-champ Kaiser, 1-0, on Wednesday.

That leaves four Oahu teams in the hunt — which isn't very surprising. Which teams remain, however, is quite the unlikely scenario: The third-, fifth- and sixth-place teams from the OIA in Kapolei, Mililani and Aiea, respectively, and ILH runner-up Kamehameha. With so many unpredicted results through the first two days, Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship should make for an exciting finish to an already fun tournament.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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