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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveJanuary 5, 2024, 10:54pm
Fri, Jan 5, 2024 @ Aiea
AIEA — The No. 1 team in the state certainly looked the part Friday night.
Caleb Ishizaka netted a pair of goals and Mililani scored early and often in a lopsided 8-0 win over host Aiea to remain as the lone remaining undefeated team in the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
The Trojans, who have been ranked atop the ScoringLive Boys Soccer Power Rankings all season, improved to 9-0 in the Western Division.
Na Alii were handed their second shutout loss in as many games to fall to 5-3-1.
Mililani had already locked up a first-place finish in the Division I West race prior to the contest, but set an unrelenting tone right off the opening whistle. In the very first minute, forward Kai Martin streaked down the left flank and fired a solidly struck ball off the left post. Although his shot ricocheted off the post and did not result in a goal, it sent a message, to be sure.
"I think so, yeah," said Ishizaka, who scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season in the eighth and 58th minutes, respectively.
"It just gave us a boost of energy to just continue forward," he added.
Senior forward Ethan Funtanilla agreed with Ishizaka.
"It kind of rattled their defense and their whole team because it wasn't expected; They didn't expect us to come out that strong so I feel like that was a really important thing that happened," said Funtanilla, whose goal in the 70th minute gave his team a 7-0 lead.
Martin, who has scored nine goals on the year, played the role of facilitator on Ishizaka's one-timer that opened the scoring.
"I think it was a developing play on the left side and Kai just happened to blow by his defender and slot it back to me and I was just in the perfect place at the right time and just slotted in bottom right," Ishikawa recalled.
The score held until the 27th minute, when an Aiea player was whistled for a foul in the 18-yard box, which gave the Trojans a penalty kick. Parker Patterson put his ensuing PK in the bottom right corner after a hesitation step to double up the Mililani lead.
The Trojans quickly added a pair of goals by Tyler Cole Tamashiro and Mau Uiagalelei in the 29th and 31st minutes, respectively.
"We just found a really good snowball and we found a lot of momentum going forward and we were just taking good chances and finishing the ball," Funtanilla said.
Ishizaka added, "I think we just may have had a little slump after that (first goal), but after that second goal I think that just pushed it and we just had all the momentum in the world to just get two more after that (before halftime)."
Mililani built upon its 4-0 halftime lead with Ishizaka's second goal of the night 18 minutes into the second half. An initial shot on goal was blocked by Aiea goalkeeper Reese Shintani, but found its way to Ishizaka on the right flank, who blasted a left-footed shot into the left side of the goal.
About 10 minutes after Ishizaka found the back of the net, Kalen Toguchi did the same off of a cross from Nisho Simon to make it a 6-0 cushion.
The Trojans applied high pressure on Aiea's backline for much of the night. Shintani exclusively kept the ball on the ground on restarts, including all goal kicks.
"What they were doing in the back is they were just trying to build out of the back because if every time they try to flight the ball we would always win it in the air, so they thought it was best to build it from the back, but our three (forwards) up top were really good at pressuring them, forcing them one way and really forcing them to give up the ball, so it was really easy for us," Funtanilla explained.
Meanwhile, Mililani's own defense not only turned in a clean sheet — its eighth of the season — but also denied Na Alii a single shot on goal all night.
"Our defense, I feel like we should give all our glory to our defense, they're really strong, they're the reason why we're really winning games," Funtanilla expressed. "Our attack is good but we usually build out the back and having a strong defense really sets up the team for success so I would give all our success to them."
Jarin Kumasaka closed out the scoring with his penalty kick in the 75th minute.
The Trojans emptied their bench against Aiea, which has just 13 players on its roster. About 20 minutes into the game and holding a 1-0 lead, they made a number of substitutions that shifted players around the pitch. One of those changes saw senior center-back Parker Patterson, the reigning All-Hawaii Defensive Player of the Year, move up to the center-forward position.
With the postseason looming, the tinkering of the lineup only serves to help come tournament time, Funtanilla chimed in.
"It's really beneficial for us everyone playing because OIAs is coming up real soon. We just have one last game against Kapolei and then OIAs are right there, so I think it's pretty good that we're getting everybody in and we're testing the waters so we're the best team we can be for OIAs and states," he said.
Shintani finished with 12 saves for Na Alii.
Mililani registered 21 shots on goal, including 13 in the first half. It took nine corner kicks, while Aiea had none.
The Trojans conclude the regular season at second-place Kapolei (6-1-1) Tuesday.
Aiea finishes at Waianae (0-7-1) next Friday.
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