HHSAA Boys Soccer
KS-Hawaii needs penalty kicks to edge Seabury Hall for D2 crown


  



Sat, Mar 5, 2022 @ Radford


Final/PK 1st 2nd OT 2OT PK Tot
KS-Hawaii (9-3-2) 1 0 0 0 4 2
Seabury Hall (6-6-0) 1 0 0 0 3 1
E. Dinkel (19’)   J. Haynes (13’)

Aliamanu — Kamehameha-Hawaii outlasted Seabury Hall, winning 4-3 in penalty kicks to claim the NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Division II boys soccer state championship at Radford's John E. Velasco Stadium Saturday night.

"It feels really good," said KS-Hawaii coach Gene Okamura. "I think that with all the work that these guys put in and their commitment to this goal, it feels great to get the reward at the end of it."

Seabury Hall were the ones who started off the game with the best chances.

In the 6th minute, the Spartans won a freekick that found the head of Duke Romanchak, but his header went high from just outside the 6 yard box.

Seabury won another freekick from the right corner of the 18 yard box a minute later. Forward James Haynes hit a low strike that was destined for the bottom right corner, but it was cleared away by KS-Hawaii center back William Henderson.

The Spartans would find their breakthrough goal in the 13th minute. A KS-Hawaii defender commited a hard foul in the penalty box and Haynes slotted it home for his side to make it 1-0. Haynes finishes the tournament with a total of six goals scored. Warrior goalkeeper Jacob Aiona got a piece of it, but was unable to keep it out.

KS-Hawaii responded and scored the equalizer just six minutes later.

In the 19th minute, the Warriors won a corner kick and attacking midfielder Elijah Dinkel slotted it home for the Warriors. Dinkel scored in every game for the Warriors in the tournament.

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"They (Seabury) scored off of a penalty kick and momentum shifted really quickly," Dinkel said. "Luckily we were able to put it down field and get a corner. I noticed that the front post was open and I was just able to slip it in there."

At halftime, the stats showed that both sides created a multitude of chances. Seabury led in total shots with six, but both teams had only two shots on target. KS-Hawaii had nine corner kicks while the Spartans had five freekicks. Both freshmen goalkeepers (Aiona and Trey Carizo) made one save a piece in the first half.

The stats for the second half showed that the flow of the game was stop and go due to the amount of fouls and set piece plays. There were a total of 12 freekicks and three corners as well as many throw-ins for both sides.

"It was hard for us to really get into any kind of rhythm and they (Seabury) were pretty dynamic going forward," said Okamura. "This Seabury team is a very good team. It was a rollercoaster of a match."

The rollercoaster almost took Okamura and his team on a high when there were obvious shouts for a penalty when Blaise Loo was fouled hard in the box, but the center referee had them play on. After 80 minutes, the teams were still tied at 1-1 and headed into overtime.

In the first overtime period, the rollercoaster took a downward turn for Seabury when Carizo took a hard foul after making an acrobatic save. He was accidentally undercut by a KS-Hawaii player and looked to be seriously injured. Senior Conor McCarthy stepped in as the backup keeper while Carizo was helped off the pitch. Carizo needed only a few seconds on the sideline before he returned into goal for the Spartans.

After the near catastrophic low for the Spartans, they nearly sealed the game when Romanchak was played in on goal but Aiona made a huge one-on-one save to keep the Warriors afloat. Romanchak also was fouled in the box with seconds left in the first overtime, but the referee also did not call a penalty.

In the beginning of the second overtime period, Dinkel played some nifty one-two passes with a teammate and launched a left-footed lazer that crashed off of the crossbar.
Haynes won a freekick for the Spartans a few minutes later and hit a low shot that creeped under the wall. However, Aiona was there to stuff the attempt. Aiona ended the night with four total saves.

NIU Health Urgent Care/HHSAA Division II All-Tournament Team

Carlos Lang, Island School
Lucas Kay-Wong, KS-Hawaii
Aidan Santos, Hawaii Prep
James Haynes, Seabury
Trey Cerizo, Seabury
William Henderson, KS-Hawaii
Duke Romanchak, Seabury
Patricio Santiago, Seabury
Everton Kuamoo, KS-Hawaii
Jacob Aiona, KS-Hawaii (GK)

Most Outstanding Player: Elijah Dinkel, KS-Hawaii

In the final seconds of the last overtime, Dinkel let loose another wicked shot that forced Carizo into a sliding save. Carizo had a total of five saves on the night.
After 100 minutes of play, the rollercoaster would continue as the two teams would decide the state title via penalty shootout.

Haynes was up first for Seabury and he confidently made his shot. Up first for the Warriors was junior leader Dinkel. Dinkel hit a powerful strike to the bottom right corner. However, Carizo read it perfectly and made an emphatic save, sending the Seabury crowd into a frenzy.

The next two players for each side slotted home their kicks and Seabury led 2-1 heading into the 3rd round. The Warriors would be given a lifeline when the third Seabury player hit his shot off the crossbar. Henderson confidently hit his shot in to tie it at 2-2 after three rounds. The 4th round kickers scored for each team and it was tied 3-3 with one more set of kicks to go before more players were called for each team. Seabury's 5th kicker steps up to the penalty spot and his kick sailed high over the goal.

The rollercoaster that was this penalty shootout, that was this game, finally came to an end when sophomore forward Lucas Kay-Wong hit the winning penalty for the Warriors.

"We are pretty confident with PKs," said Dinkel. "I'm usually confident with pks and I never really miss but I'm glad that we are all here to appreciate this moment right now. I cannot even tell you how much I appreciate these boys."

After Dinkel's initial miss, the rest of the underclassmen Warrior kickers left no doubt with their penalty kicks.

"They (KS-Hawaii) deserved it in the end," said Seabury coach Ian Mork." In penalties, these things can happen but you know our players will learn that we have to finish these games off in regulation. If you wait that long and get into penalties, anything can really happen."

Although Seabury ended their season with a loss, Mork was very pleased with his teams' overall season.

"You know, it took us a while to settle into the game," Mork said. "We have some players that don't have a ton of experience within the game so we've been really proud of our progress throughout the year and to get to this point. We've been improving every single week throughout the season and we really wanted to take the game to them. I think when you look at the tape and you look at the chances we created, I think we did. Again we're really proud of our team. We'll be back next year, we're just getting started."

The Warriors and coach Okamura are also setting high expectations for next season.

"I'm really proud of the way that we defended tonight and how it ended," said Okamura. "We are hoping to be back here next year. We had only three seniors in the starting lineup so we have a pretty young team. There are a lot of younger guys who didn't get into this match today. They will come back stronger and better."





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