PAC-5 captains Michaella Cox (2), Riley Sagapolutele (28), and Kayla Arucan (98) hoist the state championship trophy in the NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Division II Girls Soccer Championship at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium CJ Caraang | SL

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Sat, Feb 26, 2022 @ Radford

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PAC-5

1

Kauai

0

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
PAC-5 (6-3-2)	0	1	-	-	-	1
Kauai (7-2-2)	0	0	-	-	-	0

S. Nasu (45:00)

PAC-5 edged Kauai, 1-0, to claim its first HHSAA Division II Title since 2010 at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium Saturday night.

Solala "Lala" Nasu's free kick goal in the 45th minute was the difference. "It's crazy," said Nasu. "I don't think it's hit me just yet. I'm really happy."

This is the fourth overall Division II Girls Soccer State Title for PAC-5, but this is the first title for co-head coaches Ryan and Shannon Leong.

"First off, all glory to God," said Shannon Leong. "The girls worked very hard. They practiced hard, we stuck it out and I'm so proud of every single one of them."

The game started off with PAC-5 nearly scoring in the opening seconds when midfielder Sara Cruz hit a shot that went just wide of Kauai goalkeeper Jaeda Planas' goal. Cruz had another opportunity in the 8th minute, but Planas made a comfortable save. Planas would go on to make a total of 7 saves throughout the game.

Cruz went down with an injury in the 16th minute and did not return until the 27th minute. In that period of time that Cruz was out, the Red Raiders began to settle down and string together a couple of passes through center midfielder Coral Turner.

Kauai created only one chance on goal in the first half. That sole chance came in the 33rd minute when Shania Kelly hit a low shot on goal, but Wolfpack goalkeeper Kayla Arucan was there to make the save.

The Wolfpack created a few more chances before halftime, but Planas and her two centerbacks (Kaleionahe Bukoski and Keira Caogas) were unbreachable all first half.

"The first half, the girls were nervous," said Leong. "They held their composure and I just told them to stay focused. When the pressure is on, it's important to stay focused. Play hard, play for each other."

Both teams opened the 2nd half with high energy and the pace of the game stepped up a notch. That's when the Wolfpack won a freekick from 30 yards out and Nasu hit the game winning shot over the outstretched hand of Planas. Nasu is the primary freekick taker for the Wolfpack and she sent the PAC-5 bench and fans wild with her right-footed rocket.

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"Lala is a natural," said Leong. "We work on freekicks at practice a lot. There are actually a lot of girls on our team who could've taken the freekicks too but Lala is a natural. She's so coachable, very humble, and she's an awesome player. She's only a sophomore too."

Nasu, a starting centerback for the Wolfpack, ends the season with a total of 4 goals.

Kauai's Adrianna Hernandez left the game in the 52nd minute due to injury and would not return for the Red Raiders. Kauai, who only roster a total of 12 players, put in their one and only available substitute in for Hernandez.

That did not stop the Red Raiders as they managed to push numbers forward. Bukoski was moved up to fill Hernandez's central midfield role.

"As the game progressed, my girls progressed, my girls were still going for goal," said Kauai head coach Chance Bukoski. "Everybody knows where they're supposed to be and everyone plays multiple positions because we have to. They really grinded and we, as a team, played for each other."

Kauai nearly equalized in the 55th minute when Turner beat two Wolfpack defenders and hit a long range left foot shot. However, the shot curled just wide of the top right corner of goal.

Kauai also had a number of free kicks in dangerous spots in PAC-5 territory, but were unable to capitalize.

This was Kauai's second straight year (minus the COIVD cancellation) where they made it all the way to the title game. Although the Red Raiders came up just short yet again, Bukoski had a strong adjective to describe his team.

"It didn't work out in our favor, but this season was legendary," said Bukoski. "This season we started out with only 8 girls. Then the first three games, we had 9-10 girls. It was frustrating at first because I could not form a team. In hindsight, it helped us a lot to get to this stage. We were fit and we were always grinding."

Bukoski said that his team is young, only losing four seniors, and believes that his team has what it takes to get back to the title game again next year.

"Personally, born and raised on Kauai, there's a lot of hidden talent," Bukoski said. "People and coaches need to check out what we have on Kauai because we have quality players. All in all, I think the 4 high schools on Kauai are slowly getting better every single year and that helps us. Metal sharpens metal. We'll be back next year."

Coach Leong's team also faced struggles throughout the season to get to this point. One of those reasons was COVID-19.

"It was very challenging because of COVID," Leong said. "We were short on numbers throughout the season. I didn't have my whole squad until our last (regular season) game. But you know, the girls pushed through."

Along with the pandemic, the Wolfpack went through the gauntlet that is the ILH (Interscholastic League of Honolulu), where they faced the two teams (Kamehameha and Punahou) that are playing in the Division I title game.

"The ILH is always a dogfight," said Leong. "We played against the toughest and best schools. I like that our girls get the chance to challenge them. We have a young team and they're just getting better and they're getting used to playing with each other. We did a lot of team bonding and it all came together."

Nasu and the young core of sophomores and freshmen will be back next year for the Wolfpack.

"I really hope that we can defend our championship next year. We are losing a lot of great seniors, but i'm really hoping that we can carry the team next season."