HHSAA Girls Soccer
Kalua helps Warriors surge past Wildcats, return to title game


  



Fri, Feb 7, 2020 @ Waipio


Final 1st 2nd OT 2OT PK Tot
Konawaena (14-2-1) 0 0 - - - 0
Kamehameha (11-0-2) 0 3 - - - 3
K. Kalua (47’ 49’)   J. Colburn (71’)

WAIPAHU — Kalia Kalua scored twice in a three-minute span to lead top-seeded Kamehameha to a 3-0 semifinal win over fourth-seeded Konawaena at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex Friday night.

The Warriors (10-0-2) did all of their scoring in the second half and their defense turned in a second clean sheet in as many nights to lift them into Saturday's title game of The Queen's Medical Center/HHSAA Division I Girls Soccer State Championships.

Kamehameha, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion and No. 1 team in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings, will try for its second straight state crown and 10th overall when it takes on third-seed and eighth-ranked Kekaulike at 7 p.m.

"That feels amazing," said Kalua, a senior forward and third-year varsity player. "I mean, this is my last year and I wanted to make it as far as possible. We have a very young team and I wanted to be on the team to let them experience what it feels like to win."

The 10th-ranked Wildcats (14-2), the champion of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, saw their six-game win streak snapped. It was the second consecutive year that they lost in the semifinal round.

The teams played to a scoreless first half before Kalua opened the scoring in the 47th minute with a rocket off her left foot from about 22 yards out into the top right corner of the goal. It came just a minute after she had a similar shot that was denied by Konawaena goalkeeper Kyanah Blas.

"She came to play today," Warriors coach Missy Moore said. "That second half, it's like a fire was lit and she went for it and that was what we needed."

Kalua said there was no hesitation on her second attempt.

"I usually do the same thing: I like to cut, be choppy, keep the defenders out, if I see a shot, I'll take it and that's what I did. It didn't work the first time, but the second time I shot I buried that back in the corner and it went in," said Kalua, who netted the Warriors' lone goal in Thursday's 1-0 quarterfinal win over Kamehameha-Maui.

Just two minutes after Kalua's goal, Kamehameha's Anuhea Aluli drew a foul inside of Konawaena's 18-yard box to send Kalua to the penalty spot. Kalua put away the PK — this time with her right foot — to the bottom right corner to give her team a two-score cushion.

Moore credited Aluli, a sophomore forward, for creating the goal-scoring opportunity.

"Great run through, I mean, if she wasn't fouled that was a goal, in my opinion," Moore said.

Kalua added of Aluli: "She works hard. I mean, she fought for the ball, she got the foul for us to get another goal in to make sure that we get the win."

It was the eighth and ninth goals of the season for Kalua, which ties her with Aluli for the team lead.

Konawaena third-year coach Kaua Wall said the penalty kick was too much to overcome.

"I'm so proud of them. Our goal was to do better than last year and that was to win this game and we were put up against the defending state champs again and you know, we were not scared, we were not intimidated and it was an up-and-up game and the girls played their hearts out and unfortunately, they had that really good goal and after that PK, unfortunately we just couldn't come back from that," Wall said.

The Warriors added an insurance goal in the 71st minute. Sienna Inouye made a run down the left flank before sending a cross that bounced across the 6-yard box to the back post, where a wide-open Justice Colburn had enough time to gather the pass and easily boot in the goal.

Kalua said that Moore used the halftime break to reaffirm to the Warriors where their strength lies.

"She just said that the mids and the forwards needed to connect. Through-balls were wide open and our outside wingers are fast, so we could beat them down the line and that's what we did," Kalua said.

Moore noted that the two goals early in the second half alleviated some pressure off of her players.

"That definitely was a big relief, for sure. We just had to take a deep breath at halftime, relax a little bit and get back to our style of play and settle down and we did just that, so very happy with the result," said Moore, who has led the Warriors to three of their nine state championships.

Kamehameha totaled 11 shots on goal to one for Konawaena.

Blas, who is signed with the University of Hawaii, made eight saves in goal for the Wildcats, who managed just one corner kick; the Warriors had seven corners, by comparison.

"That goalie is a heck of a goalie. UH is gonna have a good goalie next year," Moore said of Blas.

With just under nine minutes left to play in the first half, Konawaena center-back Finesity Salinas-Gouveia collided with her own goalkeeper while trying to whiled Kamehameha striker Kaeliah Kahana from a long pass near the top of the 18. She remained down on the pitch for more than 30 minutes while the game was delayed and athletic trainers tended to her.

"Obviously with only nine minutes left in the first half, you know, to have that kind of injury and that kind of delay — and then you worry about a player when they're down that long and our team was definitely concerned because you don't want to see a player go down like that, definitely — so I'm glad we were able to finish the half, just ‘let's get it over with and reset,' " Moore said.

Salinas-Gouveia was eventually taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she underwent X-rays for a possible spinal injury, Wall said.

"She is a big part of our back line, so we just had to shift a few players around," Wall added.

Konawaena will play Pearl City for third place at 3 p.m. Saturday on field No. 8.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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