Iolani's Alex Liu and the top-ranked Raiders host Skyler Goo and the visiting Crusaders Saturday afternoon. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Since losing back-to-back games to open the season in early December, the Iolani boys soccer team has been on a meteoric rise.

The Raiders have won six straight games — all via shut out — in the always-tough Interscholastic League of Honolulu and to ascend to the top spot in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings following a 3-0 upset of then-No. 1 Punahou last Thursday.

Iolani will look to extend that streak this weekend when it hosts No. 3 Saint Louis — the only team it failed to score against this year.

Kickoff between the Raiders (6-2) and Crusaders (7-1) is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Iolani's Kozuki Stadium.

The last time the teams met — Dec. 11 at Saint Louis — the Crusaders came away with a 3-0 win. For the Raiders, the result came just six days after a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Punahou in the season opener.

"It just showed us that we needed to match the other team's intensity for the duration of the game," Iolani coach Chris Lee said of his team's 0-2 start.

Lee said that while his team has taken great strides since its last defeat, it still has a ways to go.

"I think we're getting there. It's still a fairly young team, that's fairly inexperienced, so it's just about getting them to play consistently, which I think we're getting toward," Lee said. "The last time we played Saint Louis it was early in the season, so it will be interesting to see on Saturday how both teams have changed and grown through the course of the ILH season."

The Crusaders are riding a four-game winning streak of their own and enter the weekend tied with Punahou atop the league standings. Their lone blemish was a 3-1 loss to the Buffanblu on Dec. 21.

Like his counterpart, Saint Louis coach Rick Sandry feels his team has yet to peak.

"It really kind of depends game to game who I have available. We've had some kids out with school trips, some kids out with football, so right now we're not at full strength even and we're kind of right on the bubble as far as I'm concerned of what we're capable of," Sandry said. "We're almost there, but not quite."

The Crusaders moved up from Division II last season — when they reached the state final — and have seemingly overcome the usual growing pains that come with a promotion in level of competition.

A key reason for that has been the play of senior striker Skyler Goo.

"I think Skyer is an important part of Saint Louis' offense, but that's not to say there aren't other guys around him, which I think is why they're having a very good season, because they have other players around him to create opportunities," Lee said. "Saint Louis has some real dangerous players, especially a player like Skyler Goo, who can cause a lot of problems for teams because of his individual ability to break things down."

Goo scored one of the Crusaders' three first-half goals in their first meeting against the Raiders.

Sandry said the victory did wonders for his team's psyche.

"Both the Punahou and Iolani games were instrumental, but I think the Iolani gave was the boys the confidence that they needed," Sandry said. "They always had confidence, but that game kind of let them know that it was OK to be confident. At the same time, we know we're not going to see the same type of play Saturday."

Toeing the line between confident and overconfident has been a point of emphasis in the days leading up to Saturday's rematch.

"The way Iolani is playing right now, they're hitting their stride," Sandry said. "When we first played them, it didn't seem like they were together, they weren't hitting that stride, but in the last couple of games they're playing to the level that I expect from them from the beginning, so I don't think overconfidence will be an issue for my team going into this game. What we're doing right now is kind of lucky; Iolani and Punahou have had repeated success and until we have repeated success, we're just being lucky right now."

Lee praised the play of senior midfielder Alex Liu, whom he considers to be among the best players in the state, regardless of position.

Sandry agreed.

"It's definitely as Alex goes, Iolani goes; There's no hiding that, but they're also very good at adjusting their play — they can play possession and they can play the quick, one touch as well — they're very good at making a lot of diagonal runs and showing you one thing but coming with another, and their bench could start for a lot of people, so they're very good and they're very smart and it will be a big challenge for us Saturday."