PUHI — The Voyagers scored three times in the second half to seal a home win in the regular season opener. Island School’s varsity girls soccer team defeated Waimea, 5-1, Saturday morning. “We’ve put together a real tight squad here.
PUHI — The Voyagers scored three times in the second half to seal a home win in the regular season opener.
Island School’s varsity girls soccer team defeated Waimea, 5-1, Saturday morning.
“We’ve put together a real tight squad here. We got a lot of freshmen and a lot of underclassmen here,” said Island School head coach Colby Ayonon. “Everyone scored. Today, we learned a lot. We learned we can play soccer. We learned that a lot of people can score, and we learned we can work as a unit.”
Voyagers sophomore forward Olivia Gegen, sophomore striker Isabellea Ancharski and senior striker Ali Temme each scored those goals in the second half for Island School (1-0 KIF).
“It’s a bittersweet moment because it’s my last first game of soccer for high school,” Temme said. “I’m very proud of us. We’ve worked very hard and put in a lot of time. For us to win 5-1 with the amount of girls we have at our high school, it’s very exciting. I hope we can go to states this year. We’ve always come very close.”
Island sophomore forward Sophia Sherrer scored the match’s first goal at the 14th minute. Waimea (0-1 KIF) then got an equalizer at the 33rd minute off a strike from Menehune freshman forward Tori Ann Ishikawa.
“We had that set play from the free kick. It work out well,” said Waimea head coach William Trugillo. “Tori Ann beat the defender on that side, and then a well-placed shot on that rip.”
Soon after, Temme scored the go-ahead goal from inside the penalty area.
“I think I played well. There were definitely some moments where I could have been better, but I’m very proud of myself and my team,” Temme said. “I couldn’t have done it without them. All of my goals were from set plays.”
Ayonon added: “We just kept our composure. When we complete passes, you get the other team to move around. They can get tired and frustrated, and then we’ll find those breakdowns. So, I thought we did really well building out of the back. That’s kind of our focus, even down at the youth program — it’s getting the people to touch the ball with their feet, have a purpose with passes and get some direction. The result is awesome, but we’re trying to work on a smoother play of soccer throughout. But the result was definitely a plus.”
Despite the result, Trugillo said “you can’t take anything away from Island School.”
“We had opportunities both ways. Small mistakes cost us early — just not marking up tight enough or letting a girl slip by,” Trugillo said. “Over the course of the game, small stuff cost us more because we didn’t have enough possession to control it. And that’s how we ended up chasing it and getting tired. I think it wore us out by the end.”
Island School will host Kauai High, and Waimea will host Kapaa at Hanapepe Stadium on Wednesday. Those varsity girls matches will begin 4 p.m.
Scoring summary
Island School: Ali Temme 2 (35’, 73’), Sophia Sherrrer (14’), Olivia Gegen (51’), Isabellea Ancharski (64’)
Waimea: Tori Ann Ishikawa (33’)
