Kalani blanks Kalaheo, 2-0, advances to Red semifinals

Kalani's Takahiro Kosins celebrates after a goal scored against Kalaheo. Greg Yamamoto | SL

East top-seed Kalani got an early goal from William Pineda-Abaya and added a late insurance goal by Takahiro Kosins to seal the deal in a 2-0 win over Kalaheo in an OIA Red boys soccer playoff quarterfinal at Kaiser Stadium.

Pineda-Abaya knocked in the opening score of the game in the 26th minute to spot the Falcons an all-important score in challenging conditions on the pitch.

"Getting that first goal kind of just relaxed us," said Kalani head coach Michael Ching. "A lot of our guys are new and young and inexperienced, so I felt like it helped us a lot because we were going against the win."

Kalaheo had its best chance to equalize at the 28-minute mark on a laser shot on goal, but a lunging Michael Stafford gobbled up the ball for a key save to preserve the margin for Kalani.

"He makes up for a lot of (our) inexperience," remarked Ching. "We have two sophomore center backs. And to know he's a big presence, they had a couple of big shots, but you're always confident that he's going to make the big saves. He's been coming up big all year for us."

The game remained a 1-0 contest in the Falcons' favor until the 78th minute, when Kosins ran under a long ball from goal, avoided the Kalaheo keeper who tried to close on the ball, and tapped in the insurance score to put the game all but out of reach.

"Michael's (Stafford) punt came over and the keeper come out, it bounced off his knee, I got the ball and just put it in the goal." said Kosins of his goal.

Kalani, who secured a Division I state tournament berth with the win, will take on Kapolei, a 1-0 winner over Moanalua in the Red semifinals Thursday, while Kalaheo will face off with Moanalua in a consolation bracket match with a berth to states going to the winner.

Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].