Girls Varsity Soccer Wins Big Over Warriors, 3-0
by Al Linsky
It's been a while since the Raiders beat the Warriors in soccer.
In fact, I've never seen it and I've been watching for a while.
During the preseason, I watched 'Iolani play Kamehameha even in a 0-0 tie.
Last year's Warriors team was awesome, as close to unbeatable as you can be, if there ever is such a thing.
This year's edition, though, lost a lot of talent to graduation, and even though they are a very strong team, I didn't see them as unbeatable.
But, even with that little bit of confidence I had no inkling as to what was in store on the Iolani campus Friday afternoon.
The Warriors came into the game at 8-0. The Raiders were tied for second with the Puns at 6-1-1. There are two berths available for States this year.
Need I say this was a BIG GAME?
The first 20 minutes saw no scoring with the Raiders holding a small advantage in field position and scoring opportunities.
At 20 minutes, 9th grader Krystal Pascua put one in during a small pileup in front of the goal. It was ruled a handball, though, so it didn't count.
The Raiders' reaction to this tough call was to play even harder, and that would be a sign of what was to come.
At 34 minutes, Krystal crossed to Kirsty Adams who was all alone on the left, 1-0, Raiders.
In the second half, Kirsty was tripped in the box. There was never a doubt as she calmly made the penalty kick, 2-0.
At 68 minutes, probably the prettiest goal of the day came when Nicole Endo found Elissa Minamishin in front. After a few fakes, Elissa found herself one on one with the goalie. Having watched Elissa for the last four years, my first thought was, the poor goalie. Elissa took her time, faked the goalie a few times and made totally sure nothing could stop her shot. 3-0.
And that's how it would end.
There are three games left to break the ILH logjam. 'Iolani has Sacred Hearts on Tuesday, Punahou on Friday, and Pac-5 a week from Wednesday.
Punahou plays Kamehameha before they play 'Iolani.
More BIG GAMES a coming!
To see more photos, please visit iolani-events.org.
