HONOLULU — A heads-up play helped Campbell advance in the Oahu Interscholastic Association girls soccer playoffs.
Sabers senior Kaelyn Jaentsch headed in a cross from Ava Rose Whitmer in the 22nd minute, the difference in a 1-0 win over Kaiser in the league Division I quarterfinals at Moanalua on a rainy Tuesday night.
Campbell (9-0-2), the OIA West’s second seed, remained alive for its first league title since 2015 and clinched a state berth in the process. It faces the top East seed, Moanalua (10-1), in the second of two semifinals at Kapolei on Thursday night.
The Sabers consistently kept the ball in their attacking third in the first half and snuffed out the Cougars’ best attacking runs in the second.
“We just worked through our midfield from our back,” said Jaentsch, a utility player who spends time at multiple positions for coach James Curran. “We played over here (left of Kaiser’s 18-yard box) for a while. … (Whitmer) did a fantastic move around the defender, went down the line, crossed it right where my head was and I just knocked it in.”
Curran said getting the result on Moanalua’s field was “a relief” with the elements combined with an uneven grass surface that made it tougher to connect passes and maintain possession.
“We like to keep the ball, and we like to play nice, but it was really hard to play our style, so we had to kind of do some things different on this surface,” Curran said.
Campbell had a similar field, Jaentsch said, until the school got an artificial turf replacement going into this year. The Sabers’ upperclassmen were able to recall what it was like on the natural surface and adjust with the bumps and dips.
Sabers goalkeeper Amaris Ishikawa was credited with three saves while Kaiser’s Ashley Bethke had four.
Following Campbell’s win over Kaiser, Moanalua picked up a 1-0 overtime win over Pearl City on its field with a finish that Na Menehune coach Nikki Dela Pena termed “ugly.”
With under three minutes left in the first 10-minute overtime period, Moanalua sophomore Krislyn Uyeda tapped a ball toward the Chargers’ box from Pearl City’s half.
Pearl City’s defense got crossed up with its goalkeeper atop the box and they watched in horror as the ball rolled slowly the final 18 yards, kissed off the left post and almost reluctantly went in.
Dela Pena says she was “holding her breath” as the ball advanced, seemingly in slow motion.
“Going through the whole game, our defense wasn’t as tight as we needed it to be. So the assignment was we had to put a lot more high pressure,” Dela Pena said.
“I think really just the pressure may have caused the defender confusion. Ugly win. Pearl City played a great game, of course. We had to make a lot of adjustments to address what they were showing. But I just think in the end I was glad the girls were able to put the pressure needed and just cause some confusion back there, enough to get us in the goal.”
Moanalua last won the OIA in 2012; it reached the 2023 final, where it lost to Mililani, 3-0.
On the other side of the bracket, three-time defending OIA champion Mililani advanced with a 3-0 home win over Kapolei and Waipahu defeated Castle 1-0 in overtime.
Mililani (9-0-2) faces Waipahu (9-2-1) at 5:30 p.m. at Kapolei on Thursday with Campbell and Moanalua to follow.
Kaiser (8-2-2), the OIA East’s third seed, fell into the consolation bracket against Pearl City (7-3-2) with the winner Wednesday receiving one of the OIA’s final two state berths.
Mililani has a record 20 OIA titles. Moanalua has three, and Campbell and Waipahu own two. Both of Waipahu’s titles came at the D-II level.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.