WAIPAHU — The koa is headed back to Kapalama Heights. 

Three different players scored a goal and Kailla Miller registered 10 saves in goal to lift top-seeded Kamehameha to a 3-1 win over three-time defending champion Punahou in the title game of the Hele/HHSAA Division I Girls Soccer State Championships. 

A spirited crowd of about 3,000 fans at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex main stadium saw the Warriors (10-1) lay claim to their 12th state title and first since 2022. 

The Buffanblu (8-3-1) were seeking to become just the second team to four-peat in state tournament history and the first in 40 years. 

It was the fifth consecutive year that the Interscholastic League of Honolulu rivals faced off in the state championship match. Saturday marked the first state crown for Kamehameha's seven seniors, including the quartet of Ionare Ve'e, Kircha Cayetano, Hayley Hanawahine and Jaeda Verano — all of whom have been with the varsity squad since their freshman season. 

"I'm super happy," Kamehameha coach Melissa Moore said. "I'm super happy most importantly for the seniors because they literally have been here every year and have fallen short every year, so for them to get this win in their last year, that, to me, means the most."

The lone goal that was scored in the state final a year ago came on a penalty kick just 11 minutes into the match. It was an otherwise tightly-contested game that swayed, just barely, in favor of the Buffanblu. 

The Warriors left no doubt this time around. 

"I don't have any words really, to be honest with you. It's just a lot of thankfulness and happiness for the team. They worked so hard all year long, the coaching staff has worked hard all year long that this is such a great reward and to have the girls play as hard as they did and actually finish goals that we've been trying to do all season makes us really happy," Moore said. 

It was the third meeting between the teams this season and served as the rubber match. In both previous meetings, the visiting team prevailed. Back on Dec. 15 it was Kamehameha that came away with a 2-1 win over Punahou at Alexander Field. In the most recent matchup, it was the Buffanblu who came away with a 1-0 victory over the Warriors at Kunuiakea Stadium. 

"They're a great team and I think we always come out to compete and we all have high-level players, but at the end of the day they're always great to play against and they're a real good team," said Ve'e, who was one of Kamehameha's three goal scorers Saturday night. 

The championship match served as redemption for Miller, a junior goalkeeper. She missed all but parts of two matches during the regular season due to two separate injuries. 

"I got a concussion in the beginning of the season and then I hurt my elbow pretty bad the first time we played Punahou, so I was out supporting from the sidelines the whole ILH season, so it was rough," Miller said. 

Prior to this week, Miller — whose nickname is ‘Chica' — had not appeared in a match since the Dec. 15 win over the Buffanblu. 

"I'm super proud of Chica and how she stepped up. I know it was difficult for her to do with her injury and her elbow, but I think that we're all just super proud of her for coming back strong and recovering super quickly," said Warriors junior forward Shelby Aoki. "She definitely controlled the whole game and she saved us a lot, so we're really proud of her."

Miller, who was selected by the HHSAA and media as the tournament's most outstanding player, recorded five saves in each half, but it was during the second half that she was particularly under duress. 

"I thought she did a heck of a job. To not be able to play all season and then come into this tournament and do what she did, I mean, she was amazing today; Chica was amazing," Moore said. 

Miller's teammates provided all the offense that was needed, including a pair of goals before the midpoint of the first half. 

The Warriors broke the seal just 12 minutes in. Cassie Jenkins launched a high-arching shot from the right flank, nearly 30 yards out, toward the goal. The ball deflected off of goalkeeper Samantha Shiroma's hands and to Kamehameha's Shelbie Aoki, who was adjacent to the far post. Aoki ran into the ball with her hip and it found the left side of the netting. 

"Cassie got the ball on the right field and I just kind of saw her look up and she just had a nice shot on goal and I was just kind of there to pick up anything that came out of the ‘keeper's hands and I was able to get the deflection," Aoki said. 

Just six minutes after Aoki found the back of the net, the Warriors doubled up their lead. Kaahupahau Montgomery found Ve'e with a pass in the middle of the field. Montgomery gathered the ball, took a few touches, turned and fired a left-footed shot that split a pair of defenders and zipped into the lower right corner of the goal, past a diving Shiroma. 

"It was real surreal. I just remember turning and seeing that I had time to shoot with my left and then once I took it, I saw it ricochet a little but it was able to find the bottom corner and I was real happy," said Ve'e, who is signed with Cal State Fullerton.

Moore was as surprised as anyone that her team was able to put two away early in the match.

"I was like, ‘Oh my God, what is going on?' It was a little bit of shock, I'm not gonna lie, just because we've had trouble finishing, so to finish in the state tournament is huge for us. It's huge," Moore expressed. 

Punahou registered its first shot on goal in the 27th minute and nearly got on the board in the final minute before the break, but Aina Nakamura's shot from about 20 yards out hit the crossbar. 

Buffanblu coach Shelley Izuno was candid about the nature of her conversation with her team at halftime. 

"I mean, halftime was just about the fact that again, no one thought we'd even be here and we made it all the way to the final and at one point we weren't even going to be able to be here and we fought our way to beat Iolani and that's the team they are, so I just asked them to show their character and leave it all on the field. I mean, at that point I literally told them I don't care about the score, just show me who you are," Izuno said, alluding to the fact that her team needed a win over Iolani in its final ILH match two weeks ago to sneak into the state tournament. 

Kamehameha didn't wait long into the second half to pad its lead. Four minutes out of the intermission, Aoki was taken down by a Punahou defender about five yards outside of the 18-yard box. Camryn Gouveia took the ensuing direct free kick for the Warriors and wrapped her shot around the left side of a four-man wall and inside the left post of the goal to give her team a three-goal cushion. 

It was the second time in as many nights that Gouveia cashed in on a set-piece opportunity.

"I mean, we trust Camryn one-hundred percent, especially after (Friday) night. We knew that she was going to put it away and we were just there to pick up whatever came out, but we trusted her a lot and she's a super skilled player and we're glad that she got that goal," Aoki stated. 

About six minutes after Gouveia's goal, the Buffanblu finally broke through when Maya Yoshimura powered her way through a few Kamehameha defenders on a breakaway and slotted a close-range shot into the back of the net. 

Izuno got emotional when speaking of Yoshimura's resilience not just in Saturday's title game, but throughout the season. Yoshimura was previously signed to play at ‘Ole Miss next year, but after its coach was fired, her scholarship offer was reneged. Yoshimura has since penned her commitment with Cal Baptist. 

"She's had a crazy season — just in her personal life and then losing her offer to ‘Ole Miss — so I've just been working with her every day just trying to keep her in it, so her scoring (tonight) is huge; I'm really proud of her," Izuno said. 

Punahou continued to pepper the Kamehameha goal, but Miller came up clutch each time. In the 64th minute, Olivia Schiel tallied back-to-back shots on goal — one from the right flank, the other from the left side — but Miller denied both would-be goals. 

"It was definitely nerve-wracking, all the pressure, especially being a goalie, but I think at some point I just reached a flow state of like, ‘this is what I love, this is what I'm here for,' and it just came naturally to have all those saves," Miller said. 

It was certainly nerve-wracking for Moore on the sideline as well. 

"It was like, ‘How much time is left?,' " Moore laughed. "I thought when we got that third goal, I thought that was good, a little padding but with a good team, a good program like Punahou you always gotta be on your toes. You just always gotta be ready because they can turn it around in a second."

The Buffanblu amassed 11 shots on goal, including six in the second half. Schiel tallied three of them and Kaitlyn Osada, Aina Nakamura and Emily Sparks had two apiece. 

Izuno's squad earned five corner kicks in the final 40 minutes and seven for the match. 

"I think it was a season long of the seniors and the returners instilling our culture and our standard of the behaviors that get us here and I think we're a young team and it was a hard road, but I mean, just the fact that we're here, a lot of credit to the seniors and returners, the captains," Izuno said. 

Punahou was seeking to become just the second team to win four state championships in a row since it was able to achieve the feat from 1983 to 1986, when the tournament utilized a six-team format. 

"I'm really proud. When I first took over I never even thought this would even be possible, or even one, you know? It's hard, it's really hard to even win one, so I just think about why I do it and doing it for the kids and it's all about just bringing out the best in them and the best people they can be and that's really the only reason I'm here and it just happens to be a soccer game," Izuno said. 

Ve'e, who missed an extended amount of time this season while recovering from a hamstring injury, recorded two of the Warriors' five shots on goal — four of which came in the first half. 

"It feels amazing. It's a full-circle moment and I owe it all to God and these girls, they allowed me to recover all season and we were able to come back and work hard in these last few games," said Ve'e, one of seven Kamehameha players named to the all-tournament team. 

Joining her and Miller were Ayva-Ray Malepeai, Kaya Leslie, Mya Kishida, Aoki and Montgomery. 

Moore praised her team's preparation in the lead up to the season. 

"They bought in early. They all came in fit, they all came in ready to go early and it's probably the fittest team we've had in a long time where every single player came ready. They came ready to fight, they came ready to work and that was the difference, to be honest with you," Moore said. 

She also acknowledged the heartbreak of how the past three seasons ended served as motivation for her squad this winter. 

"I would say yes, definitely. I think last year we left with a little bit of — you know, left something on the field — and I think that just kind of haunted us a little bit and it made us hungry to come back and just to make it to the final, right, I mean, holy cow," said Moore, who has guided Kamehameha to six state titles. 

It was the seventh straight finals' appearance for the Warriors.