LIHU’E — The Waimea Menehune boys needed one more game to clinch the KIF title for that division, but that didn’t happen Thursday night as the Kaua’i High School boys and girls teams shut out the Menehune, the boys taking
LIHU’E — The Waimea Menehune boys needed one more game to clinch the KIF title for that division, but that didn’t happen Thursday night as the Kaua’i High School boys and girls teams shut out the Menehune, the boys taking a 3-0 win to set the stage for the girls’ 6-0 win in the nightcap.
Waimea was feeling the effects of their last encounter against Kapa’a when Jordon Dizon was red-carded and their head coach Dave Mecham was excused from the coach’s slot making both of those Menehune unable to field against Kaua’i Thursday night.
Add to that an injury to Waimea forward Chad Thompson, and the stage was set for Kaua’i as Darren Shimanuki broke the ice in the first half against a seemingly lack-luster Waimea squad.
Cody Kimura continued the scoring with a header of a corner kick in the second half, and Justin Kashiwabara iced the win as he scored on a Kimura assist.
Menehune assistant coach Mark Kennett noted that there are three more (Waimea) games left on the schedule, “and we’re not going to lose three games. We’ll be back.”
Dizon, after sitting out Thursday night’s game is eligible to return to the field while coach Mecham has one more game to sit out.
Emma Makepa-Foley heeled a pass from Janee Correia at the 15-minute mark of the first half as the Red Raider ladies broke open a 0-0 deadlock from that point, capitalizing on their speed on both ends of the field as well as deft passing to their scorers.
Makepa-Foley also initiated the play that reaped Kaua’i’s second goal taken by Sierra Jansons-Dizon, the play starting on a pass to Rachael Taira who passed to a sweeping Jansons-Dizon at the right corner for a 2-0 halftime lead despite the defensive efforts of Waimea’s Chantelle Briones.
A corner kick by Holly Iloreta at the 14-minute mark of the second half opened up the books on four Red Raider goals in that half as Iloreta scored on a corner kick.
That goal was followed by a header of another Iloreta corner kick by Makepa-Foley at the 30-minute mark.
The Red Raiders continued to roll, notching two goals in the final ten minutes of play, Iloreta taking an acute-angle shot from the rightside that swept the width of the goalmouth before nestling in the folds.
Jansons-Dizon iced the win with a goal near the end of the game for the final 6-0 reading.
The Red Raiders open the final leg of the soccer season by hosting the Kapa’a Warriors on Saturday, Jan. 17 with the JV games getting under way at 1 p.m., and the first varsity contest starting no earlier than 4:30 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
