Pearl City players celebrate after defeating Baldwin to win the Division I girls soccer championship. CJ Caraang | SL

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Sat, Feb 20, 2016 @ Waipio

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Pearl City

3

Baldwin

0

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Pearl City (16-1-0)	2	1	-	-	-	3
Baldwin (11-2-0)	0	0	-	-	-	0

D. Tokunaga (29:20)   K. Wong (15:03)   K. Wong (60:28)

WAIPAHU – Pearl City ended a 19-year drought by downing fourth-seeded Baldwin, 3-0, Saturday night to capture The Queen's Medical Center Division I girls' state soccer championship.

The Chargers (16-1) stormed out to a 2-0 first-half lead at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex Main Stadium to dominate the weary Bears (11-2), who were coming off two double-overtime games that went to penalty kicks tiebreakers. But as an unseeded team, the Chargers played a first-round game, while the Bears had a bye.

Pearl City's first title since 1997 was its fifth all-time, but the first coached by Frank Baumholtz III in his 15^th season with the girls. He also coached Pearl City's only boys' state title in 1999.

"I'm glad we could do it for Coach B (Baumholtz)," said senior forward Kylie Wong, who scored two goals.

"I have a boys' (title)," Baumholtz said. "To have a girls, it's almost a culmination of my career. I'm not quitting yet because the biggest challenge will be to prep these kids to be a good team next year. That's the hardest thing for a coach. I've been in that situation before as an assistant. You have to have the right mentality, the right work ethic."

Although Wong and Daelenn Tokunaga scored the goals, they were quick to defer credit to their teammates.

"It was definitely a team effort," said Tokunaga, who also assisted on Wong's first goal. "Everyone worked hard and I think that's how we came out with the win."

The Chargers, whose only loss was to Mililani in the Oahu Interscholastic Association D1 championship, ousted three seeded teams in the tournament. After beating Kapolei, 4-1, in the first round, the Chargers beat third-seeded Hilo, 3-0, in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Iolani, 1-0, in the semifinals.

The Chargers came out strong early and stayed that way to the end. Baumholtz said the girls prepared for the long haul each Saturday, when practice included a minimum of 10 120-yard gassers.

"They were running 120s and they hated me," Baumholtz said. "You say, ‘120,' they hated it. If they bitched, we did more. They did it. I mean, it brought them here."

Despite having the opening-round bye, the Bears were tested in the tournament with consecutive double-OT games that required penalty kicks to break ties. They beat Kamehameha-Kapalama, 2-1 by winning the PKs' 5-4. They went the same route to take down top-seeded Mililani, 2-1, winning the PKs, 4-3.

"Going into overtime two nights in a row is really tough on their bodies," said Baldwin coach Tia Medeiros, who played on Baldwin's 2000 state title team. "But we were still confident coming in. We went down 2-0 early and it was an uphill climb for us. We just couldn't get that first goal, but our girls played tough all tournament."

The Chargers wasted little time, scoring at 15:03 when Wong took a cross from the right side by Tokunaga and booted the ball from five yards.

Later Randi Fontes was closing in on the left side on the top of the goal box then chipped a short pass to Tokunaga, who put the ball in from three yards to increase the Chargers' lead to 2-0 at 29:20 and took that lead into the half.

When two good teams meet, a 2-0 lead seems insurmountable. The Chargers sealed the game in the second half on a break toward the goal. Sunshine Fontes got off close-range kick that deflected off Baldwin goalie Malie Kuia toward Wong, who followed with an easy chip in from two yards at 60:28.

"I so happened to be there," said Wong, down-playing her second goal. "Without (Fontes') hard work, it wouldn't have happened."

The Chargers controlled the ball most of the game. They kept Kuia busy with 19 shots on goal. Kuia had 11 saves.

The Bears managed only nine shots on goal, but Chargers' goalie Sydney Young had just two saves because the other shots did not threaten the goal.

This was Pearl City 32^nd consecutive state tournament appearance.