HANAPEPE — Island School’s varsity girls soccer team edged Waimea, 1-nil, in a windy match Thursday afternoon at Hanapepe Stadium. “A win’s a win, but I think we came out a little flat today,” said Voyagers head coach Colby Ayonon.
HANAPEPE — Island School’s varsity girls soccer team edged Waimea, 1-nil, in a windy match Thursday afternoon at Hanapepe Stadium.
“A win’s a win, but I think we came out a little flat today,” said Voyagers head coach Colby Ayonon. “Waimea came out to play. I think they’re getting better each game, and we just got to get on that wagon also.
“We just got to be a little more consistent and come out ready to play,” he added.
Island School (2-2-0 KIF) got its lone goal at the 15th minute.
Voyagers senior midfielder Ali Temme played the ball toward the penalty area from well outside the box. The ball one-hopped and made its way over the Menehune goalkeeper and to the net.
“I tell the kids, ‘Just shoot it on frame,’” Ayonon said. “Whether that was a through ball (didn’t matter). It was a windy day — a bouncy field. We’ll take that goal. Not the goal I would like to see, but we’ll take it.”
Temme had a chance at a second goal at the 60th minute. She was awarded a penalty kick when she had the ball inside the 18-yard box and was tripped by a Menehune defender.
Temme took her shot at the PK spot, but her ball bounced off the crossbar and cleared out afterwards.
“She got fouled in the box. So, maybe she got a little bit of jitters,” Ayonon said. “We’ll be doing some work for that.”
Menehune freshman forward Tori Ann Ishikawa took a shot inside the box halfway through the first half, but the ball was blocked by a Voyagers defender.
“The girls came serious to play today,” said Menehune head coach William Trugillo. “I think we had a nice lineup set. The girls had a few good training sessions. The coaches have really stepped up, and the players have really stepped up the past few weeks.”
In the three matches prior to Thursday, Waimea (0-4-0 KIF) lost by wide margins. Trugillo said the team showed strides by keeping Thursday’s game close.
“It’s a step-by-step improvement process,” he said. “Yes, the scores are one indication. But you can also see the amount of effort that they gave. Yeah, we made some simple mistakes here and there, but you can see they got it. I think off of that, we were able to keep it close. We had our chances. We didn’t cash in.”
In addition, Trugillo celebrated his 43rd birthday on Thursday. His team serenaded their head coach with a birthday song following the match.
“No matter what the score is, no matter what, they’re a good bunch of girls,” Trugillo said. “They’re younger, so hopefully they can stay together for a little longer. But yeah, it was fun. They’re a fun bunch of girls.”
Island School will host Kauai High (3-1-0 KIF) at 10 a.m. Saturday. Waimea will play Kapaa (3-1-0 KIF) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.
Scoring summary
Island School: Ali Temme (15’)
