WAIPAHU — The Kamehameha-Maui girls soccer team will look to make history Friday night. 

Three different players found the back of the net and Braelyn Hong made four saves in goal to help Kamehameha-Maui to a 3-0 win over previously-undefeated Campbell in the quarterfinals of the Hele/HHSAA Division I State Championships at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex Thursday afternoon. 

The Warriors (10-1-2), who are ranked eighth in the ScoringLive Power Rankings, knocked off the fourth-ranked Sabers (11-1-2), the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion and No. 2 seed in the state tournament. 

It is KS-Maui's first trip to the final four since 2023. 

"It feels good to be here," Warriors fourth-year coach Eli Joaquin said. "These guys work really hard and we pray a lot, to be honest with you. We're thankful to be here. Super grateful."

Joaquin guided KS-Maui to the state semifinals in his first season. The Warriors were knocked out of championship contention in the quarterfinal round in each of the past two years. 

Unlike the past three seasons, Joaquin's bunch entered the state tournament as the runner-up from the Maui Interscholastic League. It opened the week with a 4-1 win over Kalani in Monday's play-in round to earn a trip to Oahu. 

"We didn't win the first seed on Maui, Baldwin did, and so we had a different route this year," Joaquin said. 

In three meetings against the Bears this season, KS-Maui registered two ties— most recently on Jan. 17 — and a 1-0 loss two days before Christmas. It was the Warriors' first defeat at home in several years. 

"It kind of humbled then, to be honest with you. We hadn't lost at our stadium in like four years and we lost in our stadium. There's a Bible verse that says, if you humble yourself, He'll lift you up and I think humility has a (lot) to do with us; for me, humility is a big thing for them," Joaquin said. 

Tuitele echoed Joaquin's sentiment and even referenced being the MIL runner-up as a "blessing in disguise" for KS-Maui. 

"Honestly, I feel like that loss was needed and I feel like that was kind of like a reality check because we haven't lost in three years. The first game we played them we tied them and that was our first tie in three years, so that was kind of a humbling experience, but the loss was the thing that made us put in the extra work and made us kind of realize that we needed to play as a team, not individually. Honestly, I feel like we got lucky," said Tuitele, a senior midfielder. 

Tuitele, one of seven fourth-year varsity players for the Warriors, assisted on both of her team's goals after halftime Thursday. 

"She's been a great leader, a great captain for us. Off the field she's an amazing person, picks up the team — never a bad word in her mouth," Joaquin stated. 

Tuitele displayed a fair amount of toughness against the Sabers as well. Early in the contest, she took a kicked ball off her throat. After she went to the bench for a few minutes, Tuitele returned to the contest. She made no mention of the sequence until asked about what had occurred. 

"I couldn't breathe for a second but after that I was fine," she laughed. "It hurt for a little bit, but yeah, I'm all good now."

KS-Maui got on the board less than 10 minutes in when Kulia Kapuaala was taken down by a Campbell defender in the 18-yard box. Naia Kaulukukui converted the subsequent penalty kick into the right side of the netting. 

The Warriors registered four shots on goal in the first half, but each was saved by Campbell goalkeeper Jayci Pong. The first 25-plus minutes of the second half, however, saw the momentum swing in the favor of the Sabers. 

Hong was forced to make back-to-back saves on shots on goal by two Campbell attackers during a frantic sequence in the 54th minute. The first shot ricocheted off of Hong's upper half and found its way to the second Saber, whose shot from point blank was denied by Hong, who scrambled to cover up the loose ball to end the Campbell scoring threat. 

"It was kind of a cross, I guess. I think it went off of one of my teammates, but it got taken across the goal. She shot, I kind of went down for it but it hit my arm and it went up. I think one of my teammates headed it out and it went straight to the girl and it came back in and I just slapped it out and recovered the ball," Hong recalled. 

Joaquin noted that Hong has been the beneficiary of some late-season guidance from Nick Kohler, the goalkeeper coach for the KS-Maui boys varsity team. 

"The last two weeks he came out and worked with our ‘keepers and he did a really good job working with them," Joaquin said. 

Hong said that Kohler coached her as a freshman and their reunification in recent weeks has paid dividends for her mental game. 

"I kind of felt like I was settling the whole entire season and I was waiting for my moment. This past week he just stepped in and he built my confidence up, worked on things that I needed to work on and then just let me go out into the world," said Hong, who tallied all four of her saves in the second half. 

The Sabers had corner kick opportunities in the 56th and 66th minutes — sandwiched around a pair of other chances in the attacking third — but was unable to cash in on any of them. Instead, the Warriors doubled up their lead with a counterattack in the 67th minute. 

Tuitele made a run down the left flank before she sent a cross to Leilei Loui, whose left-footed flick snuck into the right side of the goal. 

"I saw the girl coming to my right so I just cut left, took it down the line and then slotted it back and then Leilei was right there to tuck it in," Tuitele said. 

Hong said the Warriors work frequently in practice on transitioning from defense to offense. 

"We work on that during the season and I feel like being able to transition fast gives us the advantage over a lot of other teams," said Hong, who noted that it was freshman Keale Haake who initiated the scoring play with her pass to Tuitele. 

The Warriors added an insurance goal in the 74th minute, when Tuitele found Kapuaala with a through ball that left the latter with a one-on-one look against Pong. Kapuaala converted the opportunity for her fourth goal of the year. 

"I crossed it with my left foot, right in between the two defenders and it landed right in front of Kulia and she just had the shot right there," Tuitele said. 

It was the 11th shutout pitched this season by the Warriors, who have surrendered only three goals all year. 

Hong credited outside-backs Kamalei Keanini and Payton Kuwasaki, center-backs Kaui Joaquin and Kayla Baptist and holding-mid Leimomi Hokoana-Molinas for playing vital roles for KS-Maui defensively. 

"We had to build from the bottom this year. We have our freshman (Kuwasaki) starting in the back line, we have our freshman (Haake) starting in the midfield, so we've been able to fill all the holes that we lost and just continue to build and get forward as a team," Hong said. 

The Sabers had scored at least one goal in every game this season. 

In other quarterfinals Thursday, Kamehameha beat Mililani 3-1, Kaiser routed Baldwin 8-1 and Punahou powered past Hilo 7-0. 

Campbell will play Hilo at 3 p.m. Friday in a consolation game. 

Kamehameha-Maui will face three-time defending state champion Punahou at 5 p.m. Friday in the first of two semifinals in the Waipio main stadium. 

The Warriors have never appeared in a state championship match. Hong is hoping that changes this weekend. 

"It would mean the world to me. This is something we all want really bad," she said. "We're willing to play, we're willing to fight and I think it's gonna work out for us."

Kaiser will take on top-seeded Kamehameha in the 7 o'clock semifinal Friday. 

The semifinal winners will advance to Saturday's state final.