PAC-Five Wolfpack celebrates with their seventh girls soccer state title in the Hele/HHSAA Division II Girls Soccer State Championships at Waipi'o Soccer Complex. CJ Caraang | SL

×

[email protected] - CJ Caraang | SL

Purchase this image
4x5 5x7 8x10 image download

Unseeded PAC-5 defeated the second-seed Mid-Pacific, 3-1, in the rubber match between Interscholastic League of Honolulu rivals, to claim its fourth state title in five years in the final game of the Hele/HHSAA Division II Girls Soccer State Championships.

The match on Saturday in the Waipio stadium was the Wolfpack's (8-5-1) fourth win in four days, where they upset four ranked teams, including the Owls (5-4-3) in the final.

"We had a bumpy road at the beginning, but at the end we began picking it up," said one of PAC-Five's head coach Richard Wentling. "We told the girls we had to take the roundabout route to win this title because we didn't come in first place."

The Wolfpack's long route began with an 8-0 win against Kulanihakoi in Maui for the play-in game to get into the state tournament. They then took on No. 5 Seabury Hall, followed by No. 4 Kailua, where they won both games 3-0. The semi-final game came down to a PK shootout against undefeated and No. 1 KS-Hawaii, whom Wentling called the best D2 team in the state. The constant factor in these games and the final was Pac-Five's senior Kana Smith being on the score sheet.

Smith finished the season with 15 goals, seven of them coming in the state tournament. She scored two goals in the final, despite dealing with a strained groin and a charley horse that forced her to tape her quad. This topped off her senior season with a high after being a part of the team since seventh grade, besides her playing ECNL her junior year.

"I am very grateful to my team for providing the opportunities for me, and I was so proud of them for working hard and pushing through the whole game," said Smith, who is committed to playing college soccer at San Diego State.

The game began with the Wolfpack having a lot of big chances, including the one they scored in the 11th minute. Wolfpack's junior goalkeeper Kana'i Gundaker punted the ball across the entire field, catching the Owl's defense off guard. Smith sped past the defenders and ran onto the ball, where she confidently chipped it over the keeper for the first goal of the game.

The rest of the half was back and forth, with both teams having chances and testing each other's goalies. Neither team could find the back of the net again until Smith doubled the lead in the 46th minute with a header at the pk spot from a corner by senior Ashley Ragain.

Mid-Pacific fans finally got something to cheer about in the 72nd minute when its top goal scorer, senior Destiny Look, went down for a PK. She stood over the PK spot and picked out the top right corner for her 13th goal of the season, and more importantly, brought the Owls within one goal of the Wolfpack.

However, the excitement was short-lived for the Owls. Pac-Five solidified its seventh state title with a team goal that finished with freshman Carter Abele powering a shot over the head of Mid-Pacific's goalkeeper, leaving her no chance.

The Owls continued to bring pressure after the goal by hitting the crossbar, but ultimately fell short of completing a comeback.

One aspect that helped the Wolfpack regain its title was that Damien Memorial School was added to the Pac-Five this year, which is where six of the players on the team came from.

"The new girls from Damien were a very important part of us winning this title," Wentling said. "They came in, and we welcomed them in, and we had to do a lot of team bonding for the girls to get to know each other."

The team found a way to bond at the right time, as the Wolfpack finished the season on a seven-game unbeaten streak that began after a 3-1 loss to the Owls in the regular season.

As the girls' soccer season comes to an end, the Wolfpack gets to raise the DII state trophy again after a year of being away from it.