Lady Mustangs Hungry For Title Banner
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usThe Kalaheo girls soccer team can’t help but regard the upcoming season as a chance to finish some unfinished business.
“They’re looking forward to the opportunity,” coach Alan Heu said. “For some, the fire is lit when they become seniors and they realize this is their last opportunity. We have championship banners that hang in our gym, and some of our girls are striving to help put one there so they will always be able to look up there and know they were a part of a championship team.”
While the Mustangs had what amounted to a breakthrough year in 2010, a priority after finalizing the roster will be one last look at their loss to Leilehua in the OIA White Conference title game last February.
“I’ve watched it many times myself,” Heu said of the loss to the Mules in a shootout after a scoreless regulation and two overtime periods. “It will be one of the first things on our agenda. We want to see what we can do to be better.”
If Heu sounds as if he’s already in mid-season form, it’s because the Mustangs figure to have one of the more exciting soccer outfits this fall, assuming all goes according to plan. Kalaheo officially opens its season on Halloween with a week of auditions for both the JV and varsity teams. In addition to serving as Kalaheo’s head coach, Heu also will take a more active role as an assistant in the JV program in hopes of better developing his talent pool.
The Kalaheo varsity team went 8-0-3 last season en route to its championship game appearance against Leilehua in the OIA tournament. The Mustangs also qualified for the Division II state soccer championships last year, finishing 10-2-3 overall.
The JV team gave the program an added boost last fall when they defied the odds to win the OIA DII title. At the beginning of the season, they had barely had enough players to compete, Heu recalled. “We went to the cafeteria and we went to P.E. classes to try to get the word out (and recruit players). Some had never played before. It was amazing.”
This year, the numbers are much different. Heu anticipates 50 players will turn out for “auditions” for both his JV and varsity teams.
“Winning does wonders for numbers,” he said. “We’ll have the kinds of numbers we used to have when we were doing well in the Red.”
Although standout goalkeeper Kainoa Makua has completed her eligibility, the Mustangs should have several veterans in the fold, including seniors Monique Ishikawa and Sara McAllaster. Both were junior captains a year ago. “They’ve both put a lot of time in to keep the girls involved during the off-season,” Heu said.
One shift in the OIA this season will see Kalaheo play both DI and DII teams from the East, while there will be no cross-over games with the West. Under the new format, the Mustangs will now play fellow Windward schools Castle, Kahuku and Kailua, all of whom are currently DI teams. Heu likes the new arrangement as it will give Kalaheo a chance to play the bigger schools.
“That might help us should we be able to get back to the (DII) state tournament,” he said.
Kalaheo’s public unveiling will come only five days after their first day of auditions, when they host Radford in a pre-season match Nov. 5. The Mustangs will open their OIA slate in December against rival Kailua, but the date hasn’t been finalized.
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