LIHUE — Warriors sophomore forward April Barnes found the back of the net four times as Kapaa High School’s varsity girls soccer team defeated Waimea, 8-nil, Wednesday evening at Vidinha Stadium.
“I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve missed a lot (of scoring chances) only because I wasn’t relaxed as the moment came. I started focusing more,” Barnes said. “It feels amazing. I’m very happy.”
Barnes scored twice in the opening minutes of the first half. The first came at the sixth minute off a rebound from a free kick from outside the penalty area from junior midfielder Natalie Devin. The second was scored at the 10th minute inside the 18-yard box with the assist from sophomore forward Brianna Binder.
Barnes then scored two more times within minutes into the second half. She struck from outside the penalty area at the 45th minute, and then again at the 46th minute from inside the 18-yard box.
“Toward the end, we started looking up and connecting more. In the beginning, we weren’t doing that as much,” Barnes said. “But then, we started playing.”
Junior outside midfielder Vanessa Hernandez scored the third goal for Kapaa (8-1-0 KIF, 24 points) off a penalty kick at the 13th minute.
Devin scored the team’s sixth goal from outside the penalty area at the 47th minute. Binder scored at the 54th minute from inside the box. Sophomore forward Aiyanah Walker scored at the 65th minute from inside the box to round out Kapaa’s rout.
“We started off a little slow, though. It seems like we always start slow and the girls got to settle down,” said Kapaa head coach Mytra McKeague. “To me, they force it a little bit too much in the beginning instead of letting it develop. If they do that, it will come a little bit quicker and it would be nicer goals.”
Menehune senior midfielder Julia Hirano had a scoring opportunity at the 45th minute when she was one-on-one with the Warriors goalkeeper, junior Nygeria Williams. Hirano struck from inside the penalty area, but the ball went straight to Williams.
“She’s one of our senior captains. She really wants to score this year,” said Waimea head coach William Trugillo. “She had the opportunity. I think she was a little bit surprised she had ended up with the ball one-on-one with the goalie. I think she was kind of surprised she was so wide open and startled herself when she took the shot.”
“Kapaa played a hell of a game. Like I’ve said, they’re well-coached and they’re very experienced,” he added. “Our girls, not much experience. But they played with fire for stretches there. I told them that they got to play a little bit more consistently.”
Kapaa will play Kauai High (5-2-2 KIF, 17 points) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium. A Warriors win would clinch Kapaa a second consecutive Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls soccer championship.
“Looking forward to a big game on Saturday,” McKeague said. “Girls need to stay focused and play their game. Hopefully, they’ll be all right.”
Waimea (0-8-1 KIF, 1 point) will play at Island School (3-5-1 KIF, 10 points) at 10 a.m. Saturday.
