Punahou celebrates after a goal against Saint Louis in a ILH Division I contest Thursday afternoon. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Thu, Dec 21, 2017 @ Saint Louis

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Punahou

3

Saint Louis

1

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Punahou (13-2-0)	2	1	-	-	-	3
Saint Louis (8-4-0)	1	0	-	-	-	1

L. Nichols-Shipley (24')   D. Mangiarelli (28')   J. Vandevender (18')

KALAEPOHAKU — Only one unbeaten remains in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys soccer standings.

Max Moonier factored into a couple of goals — one in each half — to help Punahou, No. 1 in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, pull out a 3-1 road win over No. 2 Saint Louis on a breezy afternoon at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex Thursday.

The reigning Division-I state champion Buffanblu improved to 5-0 in league play with 15 points, while the Crusaders, who moved up after reaching the D2 state final last year, suffered their first loss to fall to 3-1 and remain in second place with nine points.

"I like that we were able to finish and score some goals today," Punahou coach David Trifonovitch said. "We actually had some good runs of play in the first half. We had some building, we found some gaps and some holes and we were able to put the ball in the back of the net, so that was huge, and because we were able to do it early enough, then Saint Louis had to dig out of that hole and it's a lot harder for them to do that."

The Buffanblu opened the scoring with a pair of goals in a span of six minutes midway through the first half.

In the 18th minute, Moonier found Jason Vandevender with a pass along the right sideline, who then found the goal from about 10 yards out with his right foot.

"I think that their line was kind of stepping up, so I saw the ball over and I was able to play it," Moonier said. "I think we kind of won it from pressing them again. I think our high pressure at that point got us some chances. We were kind of just going at them and forcing mistakes in the back."

In the 24th minute, forward Aleix Catalani broke free and forced Saint Louis goalkeeper Markus Foehr out of the box. The two nearly collided near the top of the 18-yard box before the ball found Liam Nichols-Shipley, who easily put away the chance on an open goal.

"(Catalani) just kind of went in and pressured and he had the defender there and the goalkeeper and I think the confusion got the best of them and it bounced out his way and he was able to lay it across the middle for the easy finish," Trifonovitch said. "It's unfortunate for Saint Louis to make that mistake and get in each other's way, but kudos to my forward who was on it and never gave up and stuck his foot in there to try and make something happen."

Moonier had been battling an illness and did not practice all week leading up to the game.

"He's been home and I didn't know how much I would get out of him," Trifonovitch said. "I was hoping to just kind of play him and bring him out, and play him and bring him out, but because he was playing well and he was giving us a lot of balls and a lot of possession, he stayed in."

The junior midfielder said he was far from his best Friday.

"I definitely felt like I wasn't one-hundred percent at all, but I feel like this game was more mental than a physical thing," Moonier said. "I definitely wasn't all the way physically, but it was more of a mental thing that our whole team had to get through, especially me in this case."

Saint Louis cut into the Punahou lead in the 28th minute, when Nicholas LaManna's free kick from about 25 yards out ricocheted in the 6-yard box and was headed in by Daunte Mangiarelli.

The Buffanblu took a 2-1 lead into halftime and quickly built upon in the second half. Just four minutes in, they benefitted from a costly Crusaders' miscue when a free kick by Moonier was inadvertently headed for an own goal by Mitchell Quinn.

"I was looking for Liam actually," Moonier said. "He was signaling back post, so I played him back, but (Quinn) got there instead."

However, Saint Louis controlled just about every other aspect of the second half. It had seven of its 12 total shots come after halftime. Punahou managed just two shots in the final 40 minutes and eight overall.

The Crusaders also had six corner kicks — three in each half — to three for the Buffanblu.

"We came out tight. They were loose in warm-ups, but they came out tight and once we got behind then they started playing, and that was good, you know, they actually played like how they're capable of playing," Saint Louis coach Rick Sandry said.

Trifonovitch applauded the opposition following the game.

"My hat goes off to Saint Louis. They're a very good team, they had us buried in that second half," he said. "We couldn't come out of our own half. Fortunately we were ahead on goals, so we came out with a good first half and they gave us a goal in that second half, so we just had to maintain, but we've got to figure out a way to get out of that, but kudos to them because they did a good job. They never let down, they kept on us and on us and on us, and we had a hard time settling."

Both teams do not play again until Jan. 4, when Punahou hosts Damien and Saint Louis hosts PAC-5.

The Buffanblu will host the Crusaders at Alexander Field on Jan. 27.