Kekaulike girls reach soccer semis

The King Keakulike girls’ soccer team won’t have much time to rest on its laurels.

A pair of early goals by Mia Minkler lifted Kekaulike to a 2-1 victory over fourth-seeded Hilo on Thursday and earned Na Alii a berth in the semifinals of the state Division-I soccer tournament.

Kekaulike faces a huge challenge in today’s 5 p.m. match against three-time defending champ and top-seeded Kamehameha-Kapalama, which eased to a 3-0 quarterfinal victory over Kapolei.

In other Division-I action yesterday, MIL champion and third-seeded Kamehameha-Maui jumped out to a quick lead on Jalisa Chong Kee’s goal less than two minutes into the match.

But Punahou responded with a series of unanswered goals – including a pair by Karli Look — for a 4-1 victory.

Punahou meets second-seeded Mililani in tonight’s other semifinal match while the Kamehameha-Maui meets Kaiser in a 3 p.m. consolation game.

Both of the MIL’s entries in the D-II tournament are out of the competition after suffered their second losses in as many days.  And both teams went down via penalty kicks after playing their opponents on a even terms in regulation.

Rachel Uehara accounted for St. Anthony’s goal in regulation, but the Trojans were outscored 5-3 in the tie-breaker as Mid-Pacific posted a 2-1 win.  In another consolation match, Waianae edged Seabury Hall 1-0 by outscoring the Spartans 3-0 in the tie-breaker.