The Trojans celebrate after Karlin Wurlitzer's goal gave Mililani a 1-0 lead over the Pearl City Chargers. Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

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Sat, Jan 21, 2017 @ Castle

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Pearl City

0

Mililani

1

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Pearl City (11-5-1)	0	0	-	-	-	0
Mililani (13-1-2)	1	0	-	-	-	1

K. Wurlitzer (30')

KANEOHE — Karlin Wurlitzer scored on a direct free kick from 35 yards out and Mililani edged Pearl City in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls soccer tournament Saturday night.

The Trojans won their fourth straight game to improve to 11-0-2 on the year on a chilly, blustery night before a crowd of about 300 fans at Castle High School. They captured their second straight league crown and 16th overall. It was a rematch of last year's OIA final, which Mililani won by a score of 2-1.

The Chargers had their three-game win streak snapped and fell to 9-3-1. They were seeking their ninth OIA championship and first since 2014.

Wurlitzer, a junior fullback, scored in the 30th minute on a restart. Her left-footed blast from about 10 yards inside the left sideline curved left to right, across the front of the goal before slipping through the grasp of Pearl City goalkeeper Coryn Perreira and into the netting.

No one was more surprised than Wurlitzer.

"With this wind being kind of crazy I was aiming for the middle of the goal so it would curl outward and it was kind of a miracle that went in," Wurlitzer said. "I wasn't expecting that, but I'm happy for it and I'm happy that we were able to keep our defense strong so that we could save the lead. Stuff like that happens and I'm glad it did."

It was Wurlitzer's first goal of the postseason and fourth of the year.

Undoubtedly, the Trojans caught a break on the mishandled ball, but managed to dodge bullet after bullet from Pearl City's prolific offense.

The Chargers had been shut out just once prior to Saturday. They had scored 16 combined goals in their last three games and feature three of the state's top goal scorers in Daelenn Tokunaga (18 goals this year), Sunshine Fontes (17) and Randi Fontes (17).

"I always felt the same way, that defense is the one that's going to keep us in the game and this defensive team we've got, the cohesiveness they have and just the type of grit that they play with, they're just going to take everything that they can and get to it, I'm so proud of them from our goalkeepers to our fullbacks, but even our halfbacks came back and had to play defense against a really, really tough Pearl City team," Mililani coach Ray Akiona said.

The Chargers registered seven shots on goal for the game to Mililani's three. Several of their chances were from short distances, but missed by just a few feet.

"We had more opportunities than they did; it's one of those things that there's always the 12th player, it's the goal," Pearl City coach Frank Baumholtz III said. "Sunshine had shots that were within a foot of the goal. We've got to put it on the right side of the bar, but that's the way it goes."

It was the sixth time Mililani held an opponent scoreless this season and its second victory over the Chargers this year. It also won the regular-season meeting back on Dec. 7 by a 3-1 margin.

"We talk a lot about our mindset — like a winning mindset and having to stay strong — and we have all the tools, the mindset is the only thing that is sometimes missing so today we were very focused on staying strong, covering for each other and communicating well and that was the difference," said Wurlitzer, a center-back.

Pearl City peppered the Mililani goal and keeper Andrea Kenagy early and often. In the 13th minute, Randi Fontes got a foot on a cross from Tokunaga, but her attempt missed just left of the goal. A minute later, Sunshine Fontes' shot on goal from 15 yards away missed wide right.

"The opportunities (the Chargers) had were just tremendous and they created a lot of it with their speed and their passing, so we made some adjustments and we were just fortunate to get through it," Akiona said. "We were just kind of going play by play and just surviving, but it took a lot of effort on both sides with this wind to make some adjustments."

Pearl City's best scoring chance came in the 45th minute when Tokunaga had a one-on-one look against Kenagy. Tokunaga tracked down a long ball and got behind the Mililani back line, which forced Kenagy out of the goal. Kenagy made a diving attempt at the ball, but Tokunaga managed to get off a shot that just trickled a foot or two wide left of the empty goal.

Kenagy made seven saves for the Trojans, who improved to 5-3 in OIA title games against Pearl City, their Western Division rival.

The top six teams from the OIA qualified for the state tournament, which gets underway in two weeks. Pearl City finished second in the OIA last year before going on to win the state title. Mililani will be the league's top entry into the 12-team state tournament and have a first-round bye.