Island School’s varsity girls soccer team lost to Makua Lani Christian Academy, 2-nil, Saturday afternoon in a state play-in at the Lions’ home field on the Big Island.
Island School gave up the two goals in the second half, said Island School head coach Colby Ayonon in a phone interview Saturday.
“Makua Lani, they’re a well-disciplined team,” Ayonon said. “They got a pretty defense. I kind of feel like our conditioning fell off — maybe (because of) traveling or whatever. And it was pretty hot out there.
“We did well. We had a few opportunities. They had a little more shots on goal than we did. We rattled them a few times, but just couldn’t put one in,” he continued. “Our girls fought hard. They ran a lot. They applied a lot of pressure on the ball. It was just not our day.”
Island School ends its season with a 4-9-0 record, going 4-8-0 in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation regular season.
“Like I’ve said before, we’re a fairly young team. At least some of these underclassmen got a little taste of what competition is like elsewhere — out of the KIF,” Ayonon said. “First time we actually traveled off-island with our program. So, it’s good motivation to carry into next year and in the offseason, to pick up our level and do some offseason training, and just keep at it.”
Makua Lani will go on to play in The Queen’s Medical Center Girls Soccer Championships – Division II state tournament. The Lions will face Kalaheo of the Oahu Interscholastic Association in the opening round at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Seedings and schedules were released Saturday by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
KIF girls soccer champion Kapaa is seeded No. 2 in the tournament and gets a first round bye, awaiting the winner of the Kalaheo-Makua Lani match.
KIF runner-up Kauai High is unseeded and will face Seabury Hall of the Maui Interscholastic League at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.
The other seeded teams in the Division II tournament are: No. 1 Hawaii Prep (BIIF), No. 3 Pac-Five (ILH) and No. 4 Waipahu (OIA).
The other first round matchups are: Sacred Hearts (ILH) vs. Waianae (OIA), 3 p.m. Wednesday, and Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii (BIIF) vs. Radford (OIA), 3 p.m. Wednesday.
