‘Real Season’ Begins For Hurricanes
By Jack Danilewicz
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Kapolei goalkeeper David Hess blocks a goal shot.
Photo by Nathalie Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For the Kapolei High School soccer team, the recently completed regular season couldn’t end quick enough.
Not that the Hurricanes would trade in an 8-2 season in the balanced Oahu Interscholastic Association. But around the Kapolei program for the past 11 months, the only talk has been of the OIA Tournament and a berth in the upcoming Meadow Gold Dairies State Soccer Championships.
“This is where your real season begins,” said Kapolei coach Bryce Kaneshiro, who led the Hurricanes to West titles in both 2004-05 and 2005-06. “It’s a chance to win the OIA (overall), something we’ve pretty much been longing to do. It’s a matter of playing one game at a time now, and the first step is beating Kaimuki.”
The Hurricanes have been motivated all year long about a return trip to the OIA title game, having dropped a 1-0 decision to Mililani a year ago. That defeat is seldom far from the Hurricanes’ collective consciousness, although they did beat the Trojans in the regular season meeting Jan. 9 between the teams.
Kapolei’s post-season journey begins on Wednesday with a home date at 6:30 p.m. against Kaimuki. The winner of that game meets Moanalua on Thursday at Leilehua High School. Should the Hurricanes win twice in the OIA Tournament, they would automatically earn one of the league’s five state tournament berths.
Kapolei proved during the regular season that it can score goals in bunches, tallying 52 goals through 10 games for an average of just over five per game in West play. If the Hurricanes could maintain that kind of scoring pace, it would be a major boost to their chances. OIA Tournament games are typically low-scoring.
“At any given moment, anyone can put it in the net for us,” Kaneshiro said. “That’s what makes it exciting for us. Offensively, we’ve done a good job. I can’t remember anyone shutting us out this year.”
Curtis Kiyabu led the way for Kapolei with a West-best 16 goals, while teammates Keoke Haole (11), Justin Malvar (6) and Aaron Santiago (6) also rated among the league’s leaders. Halfback Kainoa Bryant has also been in the mix for the Hurricanes.
“We’ve worked a lot at being unselfish,” said Kaneshiro.“That’s how we get our opportunities - by knowing what each other is going to do. We have a lot of weapons, and we haven’t yet scored off of our set plays. If we can get those down, we’ll be even better.”
Behind goalkeeper Austin Healy, the Hurricanes have also been stout defensively, limiting the opposition to 12 goals in the regular season. The Kapolei defense features sweeper R. J. Agulub, outside fullbacks Mychal Malachi and Dean Stensrud and center-fullback Kevin Tanaka.
“Our defense has gotten better than they were at the beginning of the year,” Kaneshiro said. “Most of the goals against us, we were able to see a mistake. That’s correctable. We want to work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Kaimuki, Kapolei’s opponent on Wednesday, has been involved in its share of tight games, scoring only 14 times on the year en route to a 4-3-3 record in the Red East. For all the time Kapolei had to prepare for the Bulldogs, the emphasis was on themselves last week, however.
“We’re approaching where we want to be,” Kaneshiro said. “We want to continue the progress that we’ve made.”
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