LIHUE — Jonathan Paleka scored two goals to lead Kapaa to a 3-1 win over the Island School boys Wednesday afternoon at the Puhi campus. At Vidinha Stadium, Sanoe Taniguchi netted a goal in the 67th minute to prevent a
LIHUE — Jonathan Paleka scored two goals to lead Kapaa to a 3-1 win over the Island School boys Wednesday afternoon at the Puhi campus.
At Vidinha Stadium, Sanoe Taniguchi netted a goal in the 67th minute to prevent a shutout in Waimea’s 2-1 loss to the Kauai High School varsity girls.
In the final matchup, Waimea got goals from Tyler Yamamoto and Carl Mecham to take a 2-0 win over the Kauai High School boys.
Playing amidst passing showers, the Island School boys struck first on a free kick by Kellan Wortmann at the 15-minute mark.
“Our plan was to keep up with Kapaa,” said Sean Magoun, Voyagers’ coach. “We are close to Kauai and Waimea in our games, but when it comes to Kapaa, I don’t know what happens.”
A.J. Ort, playing goalkeeper for Island School, left the game early on an injury at the goal in traffic. Andres Elzaurdia stepped in to finish out keeper chores for the injured Ort.
Paleka found the net at the 25-minute mark to bring Kapaa to a 1-1 stalemate at the half.
Coming off the break, Kapaa got goals from Justin Franklin and Paleka for the 3-1 final. Kapaa leads the Kauai Interscholastic Federation league with an undefeated record.
“This was not to say that Island didn’t have their chances,” said Magoun. “Two of their attempts bounced off the cross bar and another hit a post.”
Saraiah Ijima, scoring a goal during Kauai’s last outing, found the net in the 16th minute to give the Kauai girls an early lead.
She was joined by Kaylee Tamura, getting off a midfield kick over the efforts of Waimea defender Abby Molina for the Raiders’ second goal with about a minute remaining in the half.
“Waimea came out strong at the start of the second half,” said Kauai girls coach Kevin Devitt. “They pressured well, and we got scored on due to a defensive error.”
Sanoe Taniguchi found the net in the 67th minute on the Raider miscue, keeping the Menehune from a shutout.
“Both sides played well and with heart,” Devitt said.
With the win, and preserving its undefeated record, the Kauai girls square off against the Island School girls Monday in a rescheduled game at the Island School campus starting at 2 p.m. followed by the varsity boys kicking off at 4 p.m.
Waimea, with its split from Wednesday, will face the Kapaa Warriors Saturday with the junior varsity girls starting at 10 a.m. followed by the JV boys at 11:45 a.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
The varsity girls square off at 1:30 p.m. followed by the varsity boys starting at 3:30 p.m.
