HONOLULU — A matchup of two unbeaten teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I girls soccer championship was still even at halftime.
On paper.
Mililani dictated the action from the opening whistle and broke through for all of its scores in the second half of a 3-0 defeat of Moanalua at Kaiser Stadium on Saturday night.
The OIA’s traditional power in the sport received its 20th league trophy and third straight. No other school has more than eight.
In the Division II championship preceding the D-I game, Kailua overcame a stunning, last-second equalizer in regulation from Nanakuli to win 2-1 in overtime.
Most of Mililani’s players are club competitors, too, coach Darren Smith said, allowing him to blend tactics with technical ability.
“This year they were hungry. We started with that mentality right off the bat, during tryouts,” Smith said. “We understood what we needed to do and we continued to raise the bar throughout the season. A huge step for our program.”
Mililani (12-0-1) received the OIA’s seeded berth into the HHSAA tournament beginning Jan. 30.
Jaeda Edayan broke through in the 48th minute with a run down the left side and a give from I’ai Maafala. Team leader Maafala hit a rocket to the upper left corner from the top of the box in the 57th and Mari Ige struck with a low shot to the far post in the 66th to clinch it.
The action was primarily in Mililani’s attacking third all game but the Trojans had few clean looks in the first half.
“I think we just had to settle down a bit and go back to how we usually play,” Maafala said. “There was a lot of adrenalin going and I think we just had to build out of our back line, get through the mid and eventually get to our forwards to get the win, finally.”
Moanalua (11-1-1), a four-time OIA champ, was dealt its first setback of the year after dominating in the OIA East.
“We didn’t come hard enough for those 80 (minutes),” coach Nikki Dela Pena said. “We had spurts whereas Mililani had more consistency on their attack. That’s something we need to go back and work on for states.”
Kailua overcomes stunning goal
The Kailua Surfriders were one second away from celebration when disaster struck in their OIA Division II title matchup with Nanakuli.
The Golden Hawks’ Glorina Respicio beat the buzzer with a rebound goal when the Surfriders’ goalkeeper couldn’t cleanly handle a one-hopper, and the game went to overtime.
But the Surfriders regrouped quickly, again controlling the action near midfield. Katie Finkler wound up and launched a ball from 38 yards, falling over in the process.
It found the upper left corner for a golden-goal, 2-1 victory. It took a moment for the Surfriders (7-3-2) to realize they’d just won the title in the 90th minute.
“I kind of blacked out. I don’t really know what happened,” Finkler said. “People started running to me and then I started crying, and then I couldn’t really breathe because I was really tired.”
Finkler, an Alabama native, moved to Hawaii with her military family last year.
It was Kailua’s fourth OIA title, all at the D-II level, and first since 2018. Senior forward Makayla Lopez struck in the sixth minute for a 1-0 lead that nearly stood up.
“It was major roller coaster ride, and I don’t like roller coasters,” coach Malu Afong said with a laugh. “(We told the team going to OT), don’t let (your spirits) drop. There’s no reason to. Let’s continue and finish this game. That’s all we can do.”
Nanakuli (4-7-1) was going for its school’s first OIA title.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.