Kapolei Boys Soccer: A Young But Hard-working Team
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usThe by-product of winning an Oahu Interscholastic Association title is that you’re guaranteed to get every opponent’s best effort the next time around.
With that in mind, Kapolei boys soccer coach Bryce Kaneshiro doesn’t foresee any problem getting his Hurricanes to match another team’s level of effort, even with the loss of seven starters from last year.
“One thing about this team is that they work harder than any other group I’ve had,” he said. “There’s no complaining, no dramas, it’s just ‘Let’s do what we have to do.’ Our strength is definitely our teamwork. It’s pretty exciting. They won’t quit for one second. They’ll compete.”
Last year, the Hurricanes recorded the school’s first-ever boys OIA soccer title en route to a 12-4 season that culminated with a state tournament appearance. And while the bulk of that team has completed its eligibility, Kaneshiro stopped well short of labeling 2007-08 a rebuilding year.
“It was a great mountain to climb,“he said of winning the OIA. “This year is about continuing what we started. We want to try to prove it wasn’t a one-year thing. It’s a young team, but pretty skillful and hard-working. We see a lot of potential in them, and it is our job to bring it out this season.”
While its roster will be dominated by underclassmen, the Hurricanes are hardly at ground zero with a pair of solid veterans to build around in junior forward Justin Malvar and senior goalkeeper David Hess. Malvar is the team’s leading returning scorer, having tal-lied six goals during the 2006-07 regular season as a sophomore.
“He brings a lot of leadership to the field,” Kaneshiro said. “He knows how the game should be played, and he knows what the coaches’ expectations are, and he commands it on the field. He’s basically our playmaker - he has a lot of talent.”
Hess, who will step in to replace last year’s starter Austin Healy, has had a great preseason.“Every year we seem to have a senior goalkeeper step up, and he’s solidified that position,” the coach said.“He’s shown during preseason that it’s his turn and it’s his season. He has extremely good hands. He’s very athletic - he can jump in all directions - and he reads the play well. He’s hard to score on when he puts his mind to it.”
The Hurricanes could get a major boost if fourth-year senior Dean Stensrud can return from a knee injury that has sidelined him. Kaneshiro listed January as the target date for having him back in the fold. Along with Malvar and Hess, Stensrud is one of the Hurricanes’captains and lends leadership to a young team.
Kapolei, which was to open the regular season against Waialua last Friday night, had split its first four preseason games at press time. The Hurricanes posted wins over Aiea (1-0) and Leilehua (3-0) while losing to Saint Louis (2-1) and Iolani 4-1 in a game they led 1-0 at intermission.
“We played really well against Iolani, which we think is one of the top teams in the state,” Kaneshiro said.
With their heavy losses to graduation, the Hurricanes will likely be more defense-minded this time around, according to Kaneshiro, whose team tallied an impressive 52 goals during their 10-game regular season last winter.
“We lost about 41 goals - it’s hard to replace that kind of offensive firepower like that - so we’ll try to focus more on the defense. We play a good defensive scheme, and I think it will be hard to score against us, even though we gave up four against Iolani. We don’t have that one standout player, but we have a bunch of hard workers.
“Offensively, our time will come,” added Kaneshiro.“More of a concern is getting used to our team. We have so many new guys we have to learn to play together. We have a lot of depth. Now we have to make sure we get everyone in the right place.”
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