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‘Underdog’ Hurricanes Qualify For State Tournament

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Kapolei High School players Liana Gualdarama, Kirsten
Otsuka, Jenna Wagner and Carly Vidinha sharpen their
game. Photo by Byron Lee, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

In the sporting world, as in life, roles change. But even though Brian Beck and his Kapolei girls soccer team have qualified for their first state tournament in the school’s history, the Hurricanes aren’t likely to give up their place among the underdogs - at least if Beck has anything to say on the matter.

“It’s important for us to be the underdog,” said Beck. “We’ve been underdogs all season. The girls rise to the challenge when they’re the underdog. Sometimes it’s good when they don’t know any better. I tell them, ‘we’re still not on the soccer map yet.’ We don’t know what it’s like to be the favorite.”

That could change, however. Last Thursday, the Hurricanes posted the biggest triumph of the program’s history in an overtime win (by way of a shoot-out) over Mililani in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Tournament semifinals, and took a 10-2-3 record into their match-up on Saturday with Pearl City for the OIA championship. The outcome of that contest will determine respective seedings for both teams in the the Meadow Gold 2007 Girls State Soccer Championships, which will run Tuesday through Saturday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park. Pairings were to be announced on Sunday afternoon, but Beck was less concerned with matchups and scouting reports than with his own team maintaining its level of play.

“We don’t want the other team to dictate to us how we play,” he said. “We have to play the game we normally play. One of our biggest strengths has been our ability to adapt during a game. Kahuku used an off-side trap against us, which we had to make some adjustments to, and Kaiser took us out of our game early, but we adapted and were fine after that. “

The prevailing theme in state tournaments traditionally has been close encounters, with 1-0 outcomes common. For their part, the Hurricanes have a resume to back up their prowess in close games, having come from behind to beat Kaiser in their OIA quarterfinal, to ties with Aiea and Mililani, games in which Kapolei scored late to even the score.

“We’ve battled (in the close games) for the full 80 minutes,” Beck said. “It’s an 80-minute game, and the team that plays for the full 80 minutes is the team that is going to come out of this (state tournament).”

Defense has been the Hurricanes’ forte to date, largely behind the steady play of senior mid-fielder Chyanne Alejado and junior sweeper Chaney Lopez. Six of Kapolei’s regular-season wins were shut-outs this year, so the Hurricanes have typically been able to keep the score down.

“That (defense) is our focus - it is what has gotten us through the last two games,” Beck said.

Offensively, Kapolei has scored 42 goals, including its OIA Tournament games (to just 12 for its opponents), largely behind sophomore forward Liana Gualdarama, who has established herself as one of the state’s top goal scorers. Her tally on a penalty kick broke the Hurricanes’ 3-all tie with Kaiser to ensure Kapolei its state tournament berth. She also had goals for Kapolei in its tie with Mililani and its win over Kahuku in the first round of the OIA Tournament.

“She’s solid; she’s putting in a goal a game for us,” Beck said of Gualdarama. “She’s our go-to person on set plays, too. The ball rockets off of her foot. I’ve been coaching for awhile now, and I can’t remember a player as good as her at collecting the ball and hitting a ball so quickly with velocity.”

So much of the Hurricanes’ focus has been on making the state tournament this season that Beck made it a point to re-emphasize his team’s blue-collar work ethic late last week with his team already having achieved that goal.

“The celebration is on hold here,” Beck said of his team’s run in the OIA. “I told them after we had beaten Kaiser that we might as well win the OIA now.

Everything we do from here is history, but I don’t think we’re a team just happy to get there (to the state tournament). We’re better than a team that is just happy to be there.”