Sabers Look To Score A Spot In State Championship
By Jack Danilewicz
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The waiting, as Tom Petty once sang, is the hardest part.
The Campbell girls soccer team can certainly relate to those sentiments. From the moment their 2006-07 season ended at the Girls Soccer State Championships last February, the Sabers have put all of their energies into a return trip.
“That (a state championship) has been the goal,“said Sabers head coach Mike Whitfield, whose team will be looking to defend its Oahu Interscholastic Association DII title this week when the league’s postseason begins.“In the summer, the girls were already calling me up to see when we could start. We began conditioning in August, so it’s been about five months now, and the girls are antsy and excited to get into the playoffs.”
With that in mind, they fortified themselves in the meantime with another strong regular season. Pairings for this week’s OIA Tournament were to be announced over the weekend, but the Sabers expected to receive favorable news in that regard, having tied with Waialua (9-1-1) for first place in the West during the recently completed DII regular season. A No. 1 or 2 seed was likely. Whitfield was less concerned with whom his Sabers would be matched up against, however, and more preoccupied with his own team’s play.
“We keep telling the kids, ‘one game at a time,’” said Whitfield, whose team needs to finish in the top four of the OIA to earn a berth in the upcoming Meadow Gold/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships.“We practice for one game at a time and never overlook anyone. Sometimes teams can have an off game. It (the post-season) comes down to who is prepared and who has more heart.”
The Sabers were nearly flawless in last year’s postseason, claiming the OIA title with a win over Roosevelt last Feb. 3 and then defeating Maui Interscholastic League Champion St. Anthony 1-0 in the quarter-finals of the state tournament before their hopes of a state title were dashed by eventual champion Pac-Five 4-0 in a semifinal encounter.
Campbell’s work-ethic has never wavered this season, according to Whitfield, whose team is 20-3-3 dating back to the 2006-07 regular season.
“The girls have been working harder and harder in trying to get to a point where we can do a better job than we did last year,” he said. “So far, everyone has held their own.”
The Sabers’ overall balance has paid huge dividends with nine players having scored a goal to date, led by 11 from Christiana Alcosiba.
It’s on the defensive side that they’ve been at their best, however. Campbell will enter this week’s OIA tourney having outscored their opponents 33-5 through 11 games.
“Right now, the best part of the team has been the defense,” Whitfield said. “They’ve come a long way, and now they’re getting close to where we were last year.
“The offense has to step it up one more notch,” he added. “We’ve been getting good shots, but we’ve been missing by only inches, and our shot selection has been good at times and not as good at other times. We’re getting there. A few more practices and games and they should have it.”
The Sabers also have benefited from the family cohesiveness within their coaching staff. Whitfield’s wife, Anna, is the junior varsity coach, having recently led the Sabers to an undefeated regular season. She is assisted by daughter Raynette, while the couple’s son, Shawn, is a varsity assistant.
“We practice together, so that both teams learn (the Sabers’ system) the same way,” Mike Whitfield said. “It makes it a lot easier.”
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