Iolani's Mia Watanabe tries to get the ball away from Mililani defender Quinn Nakasone in the second half. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Feb 9, 2018 @ Waipio

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Iolani

1

Mililani

0

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Iolani (14-3-1)	0	1	-	-	-	1
Mililani (14-3-0)	0	0	-	-	-	0

M. Watanabe (41')

WAIPAHU —  Iolani is the defending state champion, yet it is still "grateful" for returning to Saturday's title game against Pearl City.

Defense helped the Raiders make Mia Watanabe's second-half goal stand up in a 1-0 win against second-seeded Mililani in Friday's semifinals of The Queen's Medical Center Division I Soccer State Championships at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

"The way our ILH season went, we never really expected to be in finals," Raiders coach Kristin Masunaga said. "We're very grateful and will do our best tomorrow."

Grateful because the Raiders lost key players to graduation and struggled on the offensive side.

"We had to persevere a lot this season," Watanabe said. "It feels good to get back to where we were last year and hopefully we can pull out a good result tomorrow. Our team is really young this year and last year we had really strong leadership and this year, it's everyone having to step up together and we're all in this together."

But a relentless defense anchored by fullbacks Taylor Arakaki, Taylor Venenciano, Kelsey Wong and Shylah Soon put a blanket on the Trojans, who were shut out for only the second time this season.

"Their job was to always know where 16 was at all the times," said Masunaga, referring to the Trojans' leading scorer, Amber Tadeo-Gilbert. "That's their go-to player. She makes things happen, so we figured as long as we could contain her, we have a good chance."

Mililani managed 14 shots to seven for Iolani, but Iolani keeper Musuai Isaia recorded only three saves in part to the help of her fullback line.

"Every time (Tadeo-Gilbert) had the ball, they had two girls on her and everything," Mililani coach Ray Akiona said. "But we don't rely on just Amber. She's key, we understand that, but we have to get other players in key positions to support her as well."

Added Arakaki: "We knew that (Tadeo-Gilbert) was fast and she's good when she's facing defenders, so we just worked on denying her the ball and make sure she doesn't turn and keep her back towards the goal."

After a scoreless first half, the Raiders needed only one minute into the second half to break the deadlock. Watanabe booted her shot from about 15 yards that went off the hands of goalkeeper Sydin Nakamura.

"I tried to hit it as quickly as I can to try to catch (Nakamura) off guard," Watanabe said. "I was a little bit worried when I saw her touch it, but I'm glad that it went in.

It was imperative for Iolani to pick up the pace in the second half

"At halftime, we talked about having the quickest start we could Watanabe said. "Really, with the one-team mentality, we're all in it together…that was our goal, to get one quickly."

Iolani and Pearl City each has won five state titles. Kickoff is 7 p.m.