The lightning didn’t help Hilo Saturday night. Trailing 3-0 at the half, the Hilo Vikings’ attempt at trying to come back in the second half was called off due to lightning that flashed across the eastern skies above Vidinha Stadium.
The lightning didn’t help Hilo Saturday night.
Trailing 3-0 at the half, the Hilo Vikings’ attempt at trying to come back in the second half was called off due to lightning that flashed across the eastern skies above Vidinha Stadium.
That brought an end to the Vikings’ road trip with a 1-2 record.
Friday night, the Vikings opened against Kaua‘i High School which took a 2-1 edge out of Vidinha Stadium as Shannon Pabo and Ashlen Ubongen netted goals for the Lady Raiders.
Becca Hiraishi scored the lone goal for the Vikings in that contest.
Fighting through the rain out at the Waimea Canyon Park, the Vikings emerged with a 3-0 win over Waimea in that match as Cara Uyetake went one-on-one with Menehune goalie Erin Connelly, and won.
“In a one-on-one situation, we tell our players to just have fun,” said Ward Oshiro, one of the Hilo coaching staffers. “You just gotta’ wait for the goalie to make her move.”
But the Menehune were playing short-staffed as coach Dan Agan noted that some of the girls won’t be showing up until this week because of their commitments with other sports.
Hilo’s Kelsey Kea-Senas scored on a cross from Kaitlyn Quist about 28 minutes into the second half to add to the 1-0 Viking halftime lead.
Kayla Kuwahara capped the victory on her score that came on a Viking-controlled breakaway at the 34-minute mark in the second half.
Moving to Vidinha Stadium for the nightcap, Hilo had just two opportunities to try and score as the Kapa‘a Warriors controlled the game despite strong Viking defense.
Nahtice Nield played both sides of the ball for the Warriors, opening the scorebooks on a shot from the leftside at the 14-minute mark for the 1-0 lead.
But Nield followed the ball downfield as she backed the Warrior goalie by booming the shot attempt from Quist, playing a strong midfield for Hilo. Taking the ball up the middle, the Kapa‘a goalie came out and slipped on the wet grass leaving the defense of the goal to Nield.
Less than 5 minutes after Nield’s opening goal, Kapa‘a netted its second goal when Whitney Rowe scored up the middle at the 18-minute mark.
Led by Claire Uyetake, Hilo put up a strong defensive effort, staying on top of Warrior ball handlers and preventing any time for shot setups.
But at the 41st minute, Kapa‘a netted its final goal when Stephanie Foster found the goal from about 25 yards out on the rightside for the 3-0 Kapa‘a win.
Hilo will be hosting Kaua‘i in about two weeks when the Raider Ladies take part in a Big Island tournament.
“The university up there has a soccer program now, and you know they will be keeping an eye on who’s in the tournament,” said Kevin Devitt, Kaua‘i’s coach for the girls team. “It’s a chance for our girls to show what they can do. Otherwise, no one comes to Kaua‘i to see what we have.”
Gregg Gonsalves, the athletic director for Kapa‘a High School, said the Mililani Trojans’ boys teams will be visiting Kaua‘i for a three-school pre-season series on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17.
Kapa‘a will open that series starting at 7 p.m., Nov. 16, at the New Kapa‘a Town Park.
On Saturday, Gonsalves is not sure which team will play first, but Mililani will be taking on both the Waimea and Kaua‘i boys teams starting at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Island School soccer complex in Puhi.
The first Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation regular season soccer games will start Dec. 5 when Kaua‘i hosts Kapa‘a at Vidinha Stadium.
