Kalani, Mililani to play for OIA boys soccer title
January 27, 2023

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Kalani’s last appearance in the OIA boys soccer title game was one it would like to forget.

Three years removed from a lopsided five-goal loss to Kapolei, the Falcons took the necessary steps to erase that memory with a 2-0 shutout of the Hurricanes in the semifinals on Thursday night at Kaiser Stadium.

Raine Fujimura put the Falcons up with a goal nine minutes in and drew a penalty in the box in the second half that led to Chase Kaetsu’s penalty-kick goal for the final margin.

Kalani (11-0-1), the No. 1 seed out of the East, will meet West top seed Mililani in the final on Saturday night. The Trojans, who defeated Kaiser in Thursday’s other semifinal, are the defending champions after beating the Hurricanes 2-1 in last year’s final.

The West has won the past four OIA titles, with Kalani the last team from the East to win it, in 2018.

“We’re really excited to play either of these teams,” Fujimura said just prior to the Mililani-Kaiser semifinal.

The Falcons have allowed only two goals in 12 games this season, and their stingy defense was air-tight against the Hurricanes (10-2).

Kapolei, which played the first half with the wind in its face, didn’t attempt a shot until 10 minutes into the second half.

“We had a lot of passion tonight. Everyone stepped up,” said Kaetsu, who leads the Falcons in goals scored. “I don’t think the wind helped. I think we just played really good. The shots in the second half were all on free kicks, which is how we got scored on in the regular season. We didn’t really get shot on that much.”

The Falcons controlled the ball in Kapolei’s half of the field for nearly the entire first half. Goalkeeper Robert Pruner went almost 30 minutes before touching the ball with his hands.

Fujimura found himself in the right place at the right time after Kapolei blocked two Kalani shot attempts.

The second block sent the ball right to the left foot of Fujimura, who calmly knocked it in for the early lead.

“It just kind of fumbled around in the box and it came out and I shot it,” Fujimura said.

With the wind now in their face in the second half, the Falcons had no problem driving right down the field to set up one of their nine corner kicks within a minute.

Kapolei finally started to work some chances, with Logan Aurio finally putting a ball on the hands of Pruner, who made his first save and then saw the rebound shot deflect over the goal.

Jordan Nobe took a free kick from left of the goal and bent a ball in just short that went off a defender and just missed wide left of the goal.

As Kapolei started to gain momentum, Kalani used a quick counter, with Fujimura outracing a defender to a long pass down the field and then was able to draw the penalty to give Kaetsu the chance to put it away.

“I thought we had some momentum and needed to get more chances in dangerous situations,” Kapolei coach Keoki Haole said. “Kalani is a really good team. They kind of buckled down. They’re a super good team and it’s even harder when we can’t get out of our half.”

Mililani 1, Kaiser 0, OT

Junior forward Kai Martin scored the game-winner minutes into overtime to send the defending champion Trojans into the OIA final.

Mililani (12-0) has won its last 25 matches in the OIA regular season and playoffs dating back to a loss to Kalani in the 2020 quarterfinals.

The Trojans have allowed only three goals in 12 games.

Martin’s goal was the first allowed by the Cougars (9-2-1) in Kaiser’s past six games.

Source: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/01/27/sports/hawaii-grown/kalani-mililani-to-play-for-oia-boys-soccer-title/

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