KS-Maui Girls Atop MIL Standings With 2-0 Win

Kamehameha Maui’s Marley Duncan scores on this goal in the 59th minute of the match to give the Warriors a 2-0 win over King Kekaulike Friday night. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

By Rodney S. Yap

The Kamehameha Maui girls soccer team grabbed sole possession of first place in the Maui Interscholastic League Division I standings with a 2-0 win over King Kekaulike on Friday.

A crowd of about 350 watched freshman striker Quinn Williams open the scoring for the second time this week and Marley Duncan added the insurance goal at Kanaiaupuni Stadium.

Kamehameha Maui senior goalkeeper Anuhea Kaiaokamalie pitched her second straight shutout in helping the Warriors win their seventh consecutive game. Earlier in the week, Kamehameha Maui defeated Baldwin, 4-2, with Williams opening the scoring on a 40-yard lob shot.

Kaiaokamaile, a first-team Division I volleyball all-star, used her volleyball instincts in goal to spike balls off corner kicks in preserving the Warriors’ shutout win.

KS-Maui’s Maile Sur looks for a passing lane during first-half action Friday against King Kekaulike. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

“I just relied on my instincts and my volleyball instincts kicked in,” Kaiaokamaile said. “I think we all did really good. We fought really hard throughout the whole week in order to come out with a win and our goal is to win the rest of our games.”

When asked how does she like playing goalie, Kaiaokamaile said: “I like it, I don’t get as much action as I would like, but that’s a good thing.”

Kamehameha Maui, now 10-2, moved into the driver’s seat of the Division I standings with 30 points. King Kekaulike and Baldwin are both two points behind at 9-2-1.

“Revenge is sweet,” Kamehameha Maui coach Steven Mau said. “The girls are listening to what I say to them. Their spirits are up, their confidence is up. We are not peaking yet, but we are right where we need to be.

“The win feels great because of the tightness of the standings, we have to win out and beat teams like Baldwin and King K,” Mau said.

Williams put KS-Maui ahead 1-0 with a looping a free kick over a wall of defenders at the 29th minute.

Duncan provided her instant offense in the 59th minute, on a breakaway that she finished with her right foot.

“Hat’s off to that girl she made a great goal, but that didn’t break our spirits,” King Kekaulike head coach Gundi  Dancil said. “We saw that we could push up and try and create scores. But Kamehameha continued to put pressure on us. So right now we are at a point that we know we need to win out and we have to depend (on help).

Kamehameha Maui’s Chandler Alo dribbles deep into the attacking zone against King Kekaulike Friday. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

“Overall we played well, we stuck to our game plan. We missed players when players went down (Kayela Santiago), the momentum changed. And we probably let that get to us in the first half.”

In boys action:

KEKAULIKE 1, KS-MAUI 1

King Kekaulike preserved its unbeaten streak at 8-0-3 and remained tied with Baldwin (9-2-0) atop the boys Division I standings with 27 points apiece.

Lahainaluna (7-2-2) is third with 23 points followed by Kamehameha Maui (7-2-1) with 22 points.

Jake Jacobs scored for King Kekaulike in the sixth minute off a rebound goal and the match stayed that way until KS-Maui’s Micah Alo converted the equalizer with four minutes left to play.