The KSM girls soccer team earned a 4-1 victory Tuesday night against Maui High School at Kana’iaupuni Stadium.
“We were pumped for this game since our tie with them (Maui High) in the first round. We couldn’t wait to play them again on our turf,” senior Kalena Ka’eo said.
Senior Makana Pundyke and the Warriors came out firing with a goal about 20 seconds into the first half. It wasn’t long before Pundyke scored another goal on a penalty kick, giving the Warriors an easy 2-point lead.
One of KSM’s strong points last night was not staying on defense for long. An aggressive defense made it difficult for MHS to take shots, giving the Warriors offense an obvious upperhand.
Feeding off the energy of the preceding boys game, both teams were scrappy in their playing, and there were a fair amont of fouls throughout the entire first half.
“The boys game did get us hyped up, especially since they came back (from being behind in points) after halftime,” Ka’eo said.
Sophomore Lily Higashino assisted Pundyke with her third goal of the night, scored by a header. They continued to keep the ball on the offensive side, but MHS scored a goal with 4:53 left in the first half, making the score 3-1 at halftime.
KSM continued to be dominate on the offensive in the second half. Pundyke and Ka’eo put a lot of pressure on the MHS goalie, Brenna Eden-Spens, with at least five near misses and two saves by Eden-Spens.
Higashino then got her chance to score with an assist by Ka’eo. At this point, MHS slowed down the game by kicking the ball out rather than playing it out.
The level of intensity rose as the second half started coming to a close. Controversial foul calls were at a high.
“I think some of the calls were wrong, but we can’t control the refs. We have to stick to our game and not let anything affect us….We learned from past games that even though calls may not be going our way, we can still pull through and win,” senior Kylie Yamada said.
With a comfortable lead, Head Coach Cesar Robledo put in many non-starters, but the MHS offense could not come back from the deficit, and the Warriors won the game 4-1.
The JV girls soccer team started the day’s triple-header of soccer at 3:00 p.m., and they also won their game, 8-0. They will play next on January 2.
The varsity team will play next on January 5 vs. St. Anthony.
