Pearl City's Kaila Correa (20) scored the second goal of the match off of Aeryn Hatico (19) corner kick against the Mules in the second half at Pearl City's Edwin “Bino” Neves Stadium. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Dec 9, 2022 @ Pearl City

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Leilehua

0

Pearl City

2

Final	1st	2nd	OT	2OT	PK	Tot
Leilehua (2-7-1)	0	0	-	-	-	0
Pearl City (8-4-2)	0	2	-	-	-	2

H. Ota (52’)   K. Correa (60’)

It was only a matter of time before the Pearl City girls soccer team found the back of the net.

Senior midfielder Aeryn Hatico helped factor in two goals as the Chargers pulled away from a shorthanded Leilehua squad for a 2-0 win Friday night in an OIA West match at Bino Neves Stadium.

Pearl City got back into the win column with the win to improve to 2-0-2 while the Mules suffered their first loss of the year and dropped to 2-1-1.

The Chargers had many scoring opportunities in the contest — which included five corner kicks in the first 12 minutes — but could not find the back of the net until the 52nd minute. Hatico's strong kick from the right side of the pitch was not corralled cleanly by Leilehua keeper Trishelle Dalindin and Pearl City's Harley Ota — the lone freshman on the team — was able to field the rebound for a soft tap-in.

"Right place, right spot," said Pearl City first-year coach Eric Arakawa, who was an assistant for nearly a decade under longtime coach Frank Baumholtz. "You got to have luck sometimes. The ball bounces to us sometimes and we got lucky that (Ota) was in the right place, right time."

A corner kick by Hatico in the 60th minute netted the final goal of the night. The set piece saw Hatico's kick go off the head of center back Alexys Taira before fellow center back Kaila Correa kicked it in off the ricochet.

"Aeryn is our main corner kick taker and she's a key part of the offense," said Arakawa. "Our center full backs went up for the corner kick that time and we connected."

Arakawa credited Leilehua's defense it making things difficult for his team. Dalindin was also stellar in goal for the Mules, recording 11 total saves.

"They played hard, they kind of clogged the middle, defended a lot of the passing. They played tough. Our girls were trying hard, just not successful. We came close a bunch of times."

Leilehua coach James Uson was proud of his girls' efforts. He noted that several players are either out with injury or playing through injury. Leading goal scorer Alexyz Nakamoto (six goals) also did not play as she is currently on the mainland.

"The girls on the field did an awesome job," said Uson. "They stuck to the game plan that we prepared for Pearl City. Because of our bench, we only have two subs. Everybody else is injured so the girls on the field did their job tonight."

At least three Mules had to come out of the game due to an injury against Pearl City before returning to the match after seeing a trainer. Dalindin was also dealing with an ankle injury after tweaking it in practice the day before the game.