Campbell keeper Amaris Ishikawa holds up the championship plaque as the team celebrates defeating Mililani for the OIA crown. Michael Lasquero | SL

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The Sabers post for a team photo in goal after winning their first OIA championship since 2015. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Campbell goalkeeper Amaris Ishikawa defends a shot in the second half against Mililani. Michael Lasquero | SL

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KAPOLEI — The moment was none too big for Amaris Ishikawa. 

The senior goalkeeper registered 10 saves, including three especially timely stops during a penalty kick shootout, to lift No. 5 Campbell to its first league title since 2015 with a narrow win over No. 4 Mililani Saturday night. 

A crowd of more than 1,200 fans at Kapolei's Alvin Nagasako Sports Complex saw the Sabers (11-0-2) capture their third overall Oahu Interscholastic Association championship by denying the Trojans (10-1-2) their record 21st league crown. 

The teams played 100 scoreless minutes before Campbell outlasted three-time defending champion Mililani, 4-3, in a pulsating PK shootout that went seven rounds. 

Ishikawa's final save served as the championship-clinching moment for the Sabers. 

The Sabers post for a team photo in goal after winning their first OIA championship since 2015. Michael Lasquero | SL    Purchase image

"It feels great. I cannot believe we just won," Ishikawa expressed. "It doesn't feel like we won; I can't put it into words."

The PK shootout didn't start off all that promising for Campbell, whose first two shooters were unable to convert. 

Mililani's Gabriella Ferrante put her attempt into the back of the net to give her team a 1-0 cushion after two rounds. The trio of Leia Tupper, Raeah Raymondo and Jaylee Curran made good on their tries for Campbell, before Ishikawa came up with her second stop of the shootout with a diving save. That kept the score tied at 3 after five rounds. 

Jordyn Labajo-Cleaver got just enough on the ensuing Sabers' PK for a key Trojans' stop, but Mililani's sixth attempt sailed over the goal and wide right to sent it to a seventh round. 

After Marie Piho put away her right-footed shot into the right side of the goal to nudge Campbell ever-so-slightly ahead, Ishikawa finished off the victory with a diving save to her left on Mililani's final PK. 

Campbell GK Amaris Ishikawa was tough as nails in goal for the Sabers as she made 10 saves, three coming in the shootout period to help carry Campbell to their first OIA D1 title since 2015 over Mililani. pic.twitter.com/Ex6YdMn3SH

— Michael Lasquero (@MichaelLasquero) January 21, 2024

In the immediate aftermath of her save, Ishikawa was unsure of what had transpired. 

"Yeah, I thought it went in. I mean, I turned and I saw the ball rolling on the side and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we just won,' " Ishikawa exclaimed. 

All of the late-game theatrics were a bit much for Campbell coach James Curran to handle. 

"Half the time I was on one knee with my head down and eyes closed, but I heard she did an amazing job on those PKs," Curran laughed, "so I'll go watch that video tonight; I'll watch the game and go see."

It wasn't just with her hands that Ishikawa turned back the Trojans. Earlier in the contest she took a shot from point blank off her face. 

"Twice," Ishikawa interjected. "Twice."

Campbell goalkeeper Amaris Ishikawa defends a shot in the second half against Mililani. Michael Lasquero | SL    Purchase image

Ishikawa said that it was her first time being involved in a PK shootout during her high school career — although she has been in a few through club soccer over the years. 

That didn't translate to a lack of confidence whatsoever. 

"Yes, we were confident. We knew we could do it and we did," she added. 

Ishikawa was coached by Curran as a youngster, but stepped away from soccer when she was 12 years old. 

"I was in the sixth grade and I stopped playing soccer because I had an injury and then high school came and my coach wanted me to come out so I decided to come out and I got back into it and I'm happy I did," Ishikawa said. 

Surely, Curran is happy she did as well. 

"Slowly she got back into the game and she rekindled her love for the sport and literally last year she was in and out, up and down, but this year she was bought in, committed and she was our starting ‘keeper … I'm super happy for her," Curran said. 

The Sabers were held without a shot on goal in the first half. The Trojans had a couple of shots on goal in the first 35 minutes; Andi Watson's shot off a cross from Atianna Tauiai Fuamatu-Maafala hit the crossbar in the 25th minute and about 10 minutes later, Mia Hirayama got her head on a Jaslene Cayetano corner kick, but it was saved by Ishikawa. 

Seven minutes into the second half, Ishikawa registered a pair of saves on shots by Mililani's Malia Wagatsuma, the first of which deflected off of her face for a Trojans' corner kick. Cayetano's corner eventually found its way to Wagatsuma, whose header attempt was saved by Ishikawa, who sought a high power often Saturday night. 

"I believe in Jesus Christ, so the entire time I was like, ‘the Lord is my strength,' and I just kept saying it, kept saying it the entire game," she said. 

Campbell had a couple of quality chances in the second half. Tupper fired a shot on goal from about 20 yards out in the 57th minute, but Labajo-Cleaver made a diving save. In the 68th minute, Kaelyn Jaentsch's header off a cross from Sierra SamFong just missed right of the goal by a few feet. 

Mililani wasn't able to cash in on two opportunities in the last few minutes of the second half when Ishikawa made a save on a Fuamatu-Maafala shot on goal. That led to another corner kick for the Trojans, who manufactured a chance for Ferrante, but her header was off-target. 

"It's just one of those games we left it all on the field, we played a team that also did the same and it came down to (penalty) kicks, which is always a tough way to go out — it's always a toss of the coin — so tough one, (but) we'll learn from this and bounce back," Mililani coach Darren Smith said. 

The Trojans notched six of their nine shots on goal in the second half. 

Labajo-Cleaver finished with six saves. 

It is Campbell's first OIA title under Curran, who was an assistant to Ryan Leong when the team won its last league championship in 2015. 

"It's been a long time coming and just, you know, going up and then going down in that PK (shootout), it was like, ‘Is it our time or not?,' so after that happened it was just a flood of emotions. I know it's just a game at the end of the day, but it was a flood of emotions seeing our girls just so happy, especially Amaris over there; I was just super proud of them," Curran said. 

The Sabers last played in the OIA final in 2022, when they lost to Mililani, 3-0. 

Campbell will take a five-match win streak into the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA State Championships, Jan. 29 to Feb. 3 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex. 

The Sabers will have a seeded berth in the 12-team bracket and a bye into the quarterfinal round. 

Mililani will host a first-round, play-in game at John Kauinana Stadium against an opponent-to-be-determined on Jan. 29.