Soccer

It was the most post-overtime penalty kicks Taylor Venenciano has seen in a soccer match, but there are those who have witnessed more than the 11 by each team in ‘Iolani’s 1-0 (9-8 PKs) state-tournament victory over Moanalua on Tuesday. The Raiders (11-3-1) finally edged Na Menehune (10-3-1) when Venenciano sealed it with a goal on the 22nd PK. Moanalua coach Nikki Dela Pena remembers a game in which there were 23 kicks by each side, and ‘Iolani coach Kristin […]

The Lancers have been close before. Last year, the girls soccer team from the Academy of the Sacred Hearts were also the broken hearts. An opening-round 4-1 win over Waianae at the state tournament was followed by a 3-2 loss to No. 1 seed Hawaii Prep. The BIIF champions went to capture their fourth-straight state title. It was the first appearance in the state tourney for the Lancers since 2008, when they lost in overtime to Campbell, 2-1. Then they […]

ILH champion Punahou and OIA champion Kalani are the top two seeds in the Queen’s Medical Center/HHSAA Boys Soccer State Championships beginning Monday. The Buffanblu finished 11-1 and gave up six goals in 12 ILH regular-season games. Punahou has won the last two state titles, including last year when it won as an unseeded team. Kalani is 12-0-1 entering the tournament after sweeping through the OIA playoffs, winning all three games by an identical 1-0 score. The Falcons have given […]

McKinley’s stunning comeback and Kalani’s golden moment defined a thrilling championship night to cap the OIA boys soccer playoffs on Saturday at Kapolei. McKinley trailed Kalaheo 2-0 at halftime of Saturday’s OIA Division II final, but rallied behind the mastery of senior Kotaro Minawa to force overtime. The Tigers and Mustangs went to penalty kicks and Cristian Orlando Guzman Diaz’s save on Kalaheo’s eighth shooter followed by Brian Anderson’s goal gave McKinley a 6-5 win in the shootout and a […]

Kalani and Kaiser are trying to do something neither school has done — win a second OIA boys soccer championship. One of them will do it Saturday at Kapolei when they face each other in the OIA final. In the semifinals on Thursday at Kapolei, Kaiser blanked Moanalua 3-0, and Kalani edged Mililani 1-0. The Cougars’ lone OIA championship came in 2014. The Falcons’ league crown was in 2016. Both of those teams, however, did not go on to win […]

Rylan Sakai is a little person, but he is big in the minds of his Moanalua soccer team. Sakai stands 4 feet 4, well shorter than his teammates and opponents, yet he is right in the thick of things all the time on the soccer field. “Rylan is the player that shows our team how you can overcome anything,” Moanalua coach Hugo Gutierrez said after Na Menehune’s 3-0 loss to Kaiser in the OIA semifinals at Kapolei High on Thursday. […]

‘Iolani girls soccer coach Kristin Masunaga has to keep a watchful eye on Taylor Arakaki while she practices her throw-ins. The 5-foot-3 junior has the ability to throw the ball into the box on balls that go out of bounds off an opponent in the opposing quarter of the field. That single skill turns a simple throw-in into a scoring chance nearly every time Arakaki has her hands on the ball. The only problem is, it’s not quite as easy […]

She’s been around the game since she could walk. Karlin Wurlitzer was born to a soccer-playing mom and a soccer-playing dad, the first of three soccer-playing children. Even now, mom Lisa and dad Dane still play in weekend leagues. For Wurlitzer, living and breathing soccer year round, even playing with her mom, invigorates her world. The Mililani senior has a glue effect on her team. As a co-captain, her instincts and decisions have an influential role. The Lady Trojans struggled […]