LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i High School Junior Varsity teams started short, but managed to survive with a 0-0 stalemate for the boys’ team and a 2-1 loss to Kapa‘a for the girls, Thursday night at Vidinha Stadium. In the first
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i High School Junior Varsity teams started short, but managed to survive with a 0-0 stalemate for the boys’ team and a 2-1 loss to Kapa‘a for the girls, Thursday night at Vidinha Stadium.
In the first game, Kapa‘a’s boys opened early, taking the offense and moving the ball, but Kaua‘i goalkeeper Alec King-Martin made a tremendous diving save, pushing the ball out of harm’s way in the first five minutes of play.
The Kaua‘i JV boys started the game one player short, but equalized the field a few minutes into play with a late arrival.
From that point, Kaua‘i reversed the trend, keeping the ball in Kapa‘a territory for most of the first half, King-Martin quashing Warrior efforts into Raider territory to preserve a 0-0 halftime deadlock.
The tables turned in the second half as Kaua‘i opened with a move into Kapa‘a territory, but after failing to close the door, the Warrior offense took control. Keeping the ball on the Kaua‘i side of the field for most of the half, Kapa‘a pressured but failed to close anything.
Kaua‘i’s JV girls also started out short, forcing Kaylee-Taylor Balbarino to play keeper. Kaua‘i’s starting goalie was red-carded in an earlier game forcing her to sit out the game, putting Balbarion into net for the fist time.
But Balbarino was brilliant in net, taking the Warrior offense head-on ,with the exception of a Madisson second effort shot in the 14th minute. Balbarion limited Kapa‘a to just one goal for the 1-0 halftime edge.
The slugfest continued into the rains of the second half when Kapa‘a’s Cassidy Yatsko found the net in the downpour at the 45th minute, the audience erupting in cheers.
As the clock wound down, it appeared the Warriors would shut out the Red Raiders, but in the final minutes of play, Kaylee Tamura’s foot sent a penalty kick over the defense and the Kapa‘a goalie for the 2-1 final score.
The KIF soccer program takes a break until Jan. 4 when Waimea varsity teams visit Kaua‘i at Vidinha Stadium, the varsity girls taking the field at 4:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys starting no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
On that same day, the Kapa‘a varsity boys visit Island School in a 4 p.m. kickoff.
