Kapaa High School’s varsity girls soccer team defeated Kauai High School on Saturday afternoon in the third-place match of the 2018 The Queen’s Medical Center Girls Soccer Championships – Division II state tournament.
The Warriors won, 8-1, at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu to finish in third place. The Red Raiders finished fourth.
“We actually asked the girls how they wanted their season to end. They wanted to go out with a win,” said Kapaa head coach Mytra McKeague in a phone interview Saturday. “We left it up to the seniors. We told the girls to play for your seniors today, and that’s what they did.”
Warriors senior forward Brianna Binder netted a hat trick for Kapaa. Senior forward April Barnes scored two goals. Senior midfielders Kyla Bandsma and Nevaeh Arruda-Kapu and sophomore midfielder Talia Washington each scored one goal.
Red Raiders junior forward Kehela Ventura scored Kauai High’s one goal.
“Kauai High is a great team. (Kauai head coach Auika Metcalfe) does a great job getting her girls ready,” McKeague said. “The ball bounces both ways. We’re lucky it was bouncing our way.”
Kapaa finishes the season with a 12-2-1 season record, going 10-1-1 in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation regular season to win its fourth consecutive league championship and 2-1 at states.
The Warriors, the tournament No. 2 seed, beat Makua Lani of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation in the quarterfinals Thursday, 6-1, and lost to Hawaii Prep of the BIIF in the semifinals Friday, 3-nil.
“It was a great bunch of girls, and they worked hard all season,” McKeague said. “Always told them, ‘Work hard in practice, and it will pay off.’ I think it did. They realized what they were doing, why they were doing it, when they got here.”
Kauai High ends the season with a 11-4-1 record. The Red Raiders had a 9-2-1 KIF regular season record and was 2-2 at the state tournament.
The unseeded Red Raiders started the tournament with a 3-nil win over Seabury Hall of the Maui Interscholastic League in the opening round Wednesday. Kauai then beat No. 4 Kailua of the Oahu Interscholastic Association in the quarterfinals Thursday, 3-nil, and lost to No. 1 Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii of the BIIF in the semifinals Friday night, 2-nil.
“It was an ending we didn’t necessarily expect,” Metcalfe said Saturday. “In terms of yesterday, I know my girls put out every bit of effort that they could against the No. 1 ranked team. It was a lot for the girls to take on and to take care of. Coming into today, it was extremely exhausting (after) playing full, hard games each day. The outcome was the outcome. I’m just proud of the effort they put in throughout the entire tournament.”
On Friday, members of Kauai’s team were involved in a car accident. No one was seriously injured, but the team was without five members in its semifinals match which was rescheduled to a later time and was moved to Waipahu High School.
“I asked the girls what they wanted to do. I didn’t think that was a decision that I needed to make, whether they wanted to play or not. As a team consensus, they wanted to play,” Metcalfe said. “They wanted to play for the girls that were injured, and they wanted to play for themselves. I think it showed how much heart and how much they put in. I’m just proud of everyone that stepped up, my captains for sure, and all of my players for pushing through something not many people had to experience. I think my girls did it with grace, and they did it very well.”
Hawaii Prep won its fifth consecutive Division II girls soccer state championship, defeating No. 1 Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii — also of the BIIF — in the championship match, 3-2.
Information from Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
Saturday’s results
Match 15 (consolation): Seabury Hall (MIL) 6, Radford (OIA) 0
Match 16 (fifth place): Sacred Hearts (ILH) 2, Kailua (OIA) 1
Match 17 (third place): Kapaa (KIF) 8, Kauai (KIF) 1
Match 18 (championship): Hawaii Prep (BIIF) 3, KS-Hawaii (BIIF) 2
