Mililani sophomores Liam McGehee (left) and Jvon Cunningham (right) celebrate following the final whistle. Spencer Honda | SL

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Spencer Honda | SL

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Spencer Honda | SL

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Tue, Dec 19, 2017 @ Mililani

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Kapolei

1

Mililani

2

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Kapolei (12-5-0)	1	0	-	-	-	1
Mililani (12-3-1)	0	2	-	-	-	2

S. Yoshida (31')   N. Ungos (50')

MILILANI — Noah Ungos factored into a pair of second-half goals to help No. 4 Mililani escape with a 2-1 win over No. 5 Kapolei on a chilly evening at John Kauinana Stadium Tuesday night.

The Trojans rallied from a halftime deficit to improve to 4-0 and take over sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division.

The Hurricanes fell to 3-1 with the loss.

"We're very happy with the way we fought," Mililani coach Steve McGehee said. "I have to watch the game back to see how the game actually looked, but I suspect that it just looked like another battle."

The last time the teams met was in the league championship match last February, in which Kapolei came away with a 1-0 win to claim their third OIA title in school history.

Tuesday night the Hurricanes once again held a 1-0 lead, but this time were unable to protect it.

Sean Yoshida opened the scoring in the 31st minute with his sixth goal of the season to give Kapolei a 1-0 lead. The play started off a long Justin Nunuha free kick, which rattled around in the box before it was collected by Yoshida, who put a left-footed shot into the lower left corner of the goal to beat a diving save attempt by Mililani goalkeeper Nicholas Gaston.

The score held until the 50th minute, when Ungos scored the equalizer off an assist from Jvon Cunningham.

Cunningham sent a long pass from the right sideline near midfield near the top of the 18-yard box, where it took one bounce over a Kapolei defender and was tracked down by Ungos, who took one dribble and fired a right-footed shot for the goal.

"I saw him running and I saw the two center-backs kind of just split, so I just wanted to drop a ball in between them to cause some confusion and it worked out. Luckily, Noah scored," said Cunningham, a sophomore midfielder.

Ungos credited Cunningham for the set-up.

"That was a nice pass. We kind of have chemistry, so we kind of already know what to do. He knows I'm making that run, so he'll play it to me," said Ungos, whose goal was his third in as many games.

"It just came over the top and their goalie just stabbed the wrong way and I just slipped it in the side and got a goal," Ungos said.

By then, the tide and momentum had turned in favor of the hosts.

"I think after we got the goal lead, I think we lost a little bit of our composure in the first twenty minutes of that second half, as far as just settling down and just playing," Kapolei co-head coach Ryan Lau said. "Obviously we knew they were going to come out strong, but we got a little unsettled and we kind of gave them a little more opportunities that we should have been smarter with."

Cunningham certainly played a big part in that.

"We made a minor adjustment in moving Jvon out wide and he was having his way out there a little bit in creating opportunities for us," McGehee said. "He gave us our outlet to attack with, definitely, because we weren't able to go through the middle easily, so just moving Jvon positionally created a lot of opportunities for us."

Mililani took the lead for good in the 68th minute on a Kapolei own goal.

Ungos launched a throw-in from the left sideline into the 6-yard box, where it was inadvertently headed backward by a Kapolei player and beyond the reach of goalkeeper Jason Catron.

"I'm trying to get it to the front post, so we can flick it on to get it to the back post and maybe head it in," Ungos explained.

Lau said the Hurricanes were caught out of position on the play.

"We kind of got caught with not having the right guys there," he said. "A guy went to win the ball and I guess he was kind of overzealous and he overstepped and he headed it back and then it went in the goal."

Ungos, to his credit, recognized the miscalculation.

"I think it was just of just mixed up. They were all confused, they weren't really organized," Ungos said.

McGehee called the own goal "a big mess," from his perspective.

"We fought for it and it went off someone and it went it. I have no idea how it went in, I just wished it across the line," McGehee said. "We had a couple of opportunities earlier that we probably should have put in as well, but we'll take the win any way we get it."

Aside from moving Cunningham out wide, McGehee said the tactical adjustments were minimal. Rather, he credited his players' will to win for the final result.

"The boys just stepped up and didn't want to lose individually. Individual battles all over the field, they started winning them," McGehee said.

Kapolei had a chance to tie it in the 77th minute, but Gaston made a spectacular diving save on a shot by Eric Aquino from about 10 yards out.

"He has played goalkeeper now for about five weeks, so he's learning the trade," McGehee said of Gaston, a junior who played forward and outside-half on the JV team last year. "He trained over the offseason with a goalkeeper coach, but never really played the position until this year, so we're very happy with where he is and he's improving by leaps and bounds, so I suspect that you give him by the end of the season and he'll be something to reckon with in goal."

Gaston made five saves in goal, while Catron posted three stops for the Hurricanes.

Both teams next play Friday. Kapolei will visit Campbell, while Mililani will travel to Waipahu.