The Menehune boys earned their place in the final day of play. Waimea High School’s varsity boys soccer team defeated Farrington of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, 3-nil, in a consolation match of The Queen’s Medical Center Boys Soccer Championships —
The Menehune boys earned their place in the final day of play.
Waimea High School’s varsity boys soccer team defeated Farrington of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, 3-nil, in a consolation match of The Queen’s Medical Center Boys Soccer Championships — Division II state tournament Friday at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
Waimea bounced back with Friday’s win after getting knocked off the championship bracket in the opening round Thursday.
“It’s always hard to get rallied after getting eliminated,” Waimea varsity boys soccer head coach Kapono Chong-Hanssen said in a phone interview Friday. “We actually started off pretty poorly, slow, but we did manage to get one goal in the first half.
“Second half, we sat down at halftime and talked about, ‘We got to put more effort out here. We got to do something we’re going to be proud of,’” he continued. “The starters and the seniors, too, wanted to get some of the reserves and the other guys on the field. So I said, ‘Hey, we got to get some goals in. Let’s get those guys on the field.’ So, we were able to turn it up in the second half.
Three Menehune seniors — midfielder Justin Fune and forwards Isaiah Duldulao and Carl Mecham — each scored for Waimea.
Fune gave Waimea the lead in the first half, and Duldulao and Mecham finished off the Governors with two more goals in the second half.
While it was a good showing for his senior class, the team also had a good showing from the crowd, Chong-Hanssen said.
“We had a lot of supporters out there, too. So, we wanted to get another game for our supporters who flew over to be able to watch us again,” he said. “(We wanted to) show and do something Kauai can be proud of.”
Chong-Hanssen added the 3-nil result doesn’t reflect the performance of the opponents.
“Farrington played hard. A lot of respect for those kids,” he said. “One of their star players got injured, I don’t know, by five minutes into the game. Kept on trying to get back on the field, and he played through the pain. Pretty impressive to see him try to work through it.”
Waimea will face Makua Lani of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation in the fifth place match at 1 p.m. today. Makua Lani defeated Seabury Hall of the Maui Interscholastic League in the other consolation match, 1-nil.
“We watched a little bit on how they play,” Chong-Hanssen said. “I didn’t hear too much details. They looked like they were trying to play a possession game, and we’ve played teams like that before. So, I think we’re pretty confident that, if we play up to our ability, that we can get another win.
“Certainly, the third game after playing two days in a row, fatigue is always going to be a factor emotionally and physically,” he continued. “But I’m hoping we can just ride this thing that we had today in the second half. Just keep on going forward with this same thing.”
Information from Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
Friday’s Division II results
Match 5 (fifth place semifinals): Makua Lani 1, Seabury Hall 0; Makua Lani (DJ Madigan)
Match 6 (fifth place semifinals): Waimea 3, Farrington 0; Waimea (Justin Fune, Isaiah Duldulao, Carl Mecham)
Match 7 (semifinals): No. 1 Hawaii Prep 10, No. 4 Kailua 1; Hawaii Prep (Jake Schneider 2, Austin Schneider, Chris Whitfield, Ghar Pautz, Mateo Batol, Chris Whitfield, Brendon Moynahan, Bip Padrnos, OWN GOAL), Kailua (Ripley Quebral)
Match 8 (semifinals): Saint Louis 4, Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii 2; Saint Louis (Mitchell Quinn 2, Rick Sandry Jr. 2), KS-Hawaii (David Erskine, Kailikea Kekuawela)
