HHSAA Girls Soccer
Kamehameha tops Waipahu, Punahou powers past Moanalua to set up all-ILH final for 4th straight year


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
February 1, 2025, 11:51pm

  

Sat, Feb 1, 2025 @ Waipio

Waipahu

1

Kamehameha

4

Final 1st 2nd OT 2OT PK Tot
Waipahu (13-3-0) 0 1 - - - 1
Kamehameha (10-2-0) 0 4 - - - 4
Mya Pasion (56’, 68’, 71’)   Anela Leslie (72’)   Shanti Ng (53’)


WAIPAHU — A pair of familiar foes will face off on the Waipio pitch Monday night. 

As they have for the past three seasons, Interscholastic League of Honolulu rivals Kamehameha and Punahou will meet in the title game of the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Division I Girls Soccer Championships. 

The Buffanblu (10-2) secured their chance at a three-peat with a 3-0 win over Moanalua in the matinee matchup, while the top-seeded Warriors (10-1) punched their ticket to a sixth straight state final with a 4-1 victory over Waipahu in the nightcap of the semifinal doubleheader on a chilly Saturday evening at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.  

It will be the seventh all-time meeting between Kamehameha and Punahou with a state crown on the line and the fourth such instance in as many years. 

The teams have combined to win 24 state championships in the 43-year history of the state tournament. The Buffanblu will be vying for their record 14th title, while the Warriors are seeking a 12th crown. 

Mya Pasion had a big part in Kamehameha's win over the upset-minded Marauders (13-3) with a hat trick. The senior forward scored in the 56th, 68th and 71st minutes to break open a game that was scoreless at halftime. 

"It feels amazing honestly, especially since we were tied in the first half and I feel like that first goal just gave us a lot of momentum and we just kept going and going, we kept scoring," said Pasion, who has scored four of her 11 goals on the season this week. 

Pasion, who is listed at 4 feet, 11 inches on the roster, also found the back of the net in Friday's 2-0 quarterfinal win over Campbell.

"I mean, she came ready to play today and she worked, she worked and worked and worked and she finished her opportunities that she created and it was wonderful. Wonderful to see," Kamehameha coach Melissa Moore said. 

It was Shanti Ng's goal in the 53rd minute that broke the scoreless tie. The score came off of a corner kick that was drawn by Shelby Aoki, whose shot from point blank was deflected out of bounds by Waipahu goalkeeper Zinn Kurose. That gave Sarah Naumu a restart opportunity from the right flag.

Naumu's corner bounced around in the box before Ng was able to collect it and boot a right-footed shot into the right side of the goal from about five yards out. 

Just three minutes after Ng broke the seal, Pasion put away a second-chance opportunity when Kurose deflected, but was unable to collect a shot from distance by Camryn Gouveia. The ball tricked away from Kurose and right to the crashing Pasion, who tucked it just inside the left post. 

"Cami shot the ball, it bounced off of the keeper and I was just there to tap it in," said Pasion, whom Moore credited for being in the right place at the right time. 

"She just stayed on it, she didn't give up on the play and just put it right where it needed to be," Moore added. 

Although the Warriors had put five shots on goal through the first 40 minutes, they were unable to finish any of those chances. At the intermission Moore did her best to refocus — and relax — her bunch. 

"We had to calm down. We were playing frantic, we were not playing our style of soccer and we just needed to reel ‘em back in, regroup and then readjust some of the things that we were seeing as coaches that they were not seeing," Moore stated. 

Pasion said that Moore expressed what the Warriors already knew. 

"Basically, yeah, because we know as a team we're great players, we work well together and we knew ourselves — especially on the field — that it was pretty chaotic for us, so we already knew from before the halftime talk that we needed to settle down and I think we did well on that," Pasion said. 

Pasion netted her second goal in the 68th minute after she drew a foul in the box that led to a penalty kick — one that she buried into the lower left corner. 

Three minutes after that, Pasion capped off her hat trick when she found the back of the net from about 10 yards out after a scramble in the box. 

Waipahu coach Brent Murakami lamented that his premonition came to fruition. 

"It's funny because at halftime I said that a set piece was going to decide the game and the first goal we give up was a set piece. Second goal comes out of Zinn's hands — but she played a heck of a game up to then — and then the third goal, PK, so we're talking about set pieces all the way," Murakami said. "It was going to come down to something like that, to be honest and it's hard to get back a goal from Kamehameha; they haven't gotten scored on much all season."

In fact, the Warriors had allowed only one goal all year coming into Saturday. That is, until the 72nd minute, when Anela Leslie put away a breakaway chance to help the Marauders avoid a shutout. 

"I like that we scored though," Murakami said, "and it wasn't that (the Warriors) were subbing a lot even when it was at 4-0, so I loved that we were able to get at least one on them."

Murakami's crew tallied four shots on goal — three of them in the first half — while the Warriors amassed nine of their 15 total shots on goal in the final 40 minutes. 

Kurose made 12 saves between the posts, while Kamehameha's Kailla Miller registered all three of her saves before halftime. 

While the Warriors have been one of the sport's blue bloods — they will be playing in their 17th championship match — Waipahu was seeking its first-ever appearance in a state final. Murakami took a minute to reflect upon the lasting impact this team — led by its 13 seniors, most of them four-year varsity players — will have on the program. 

"I don't think they're going to realize what they've done until a little later. I mean, you look at it: we had three losses, two to Mililani — OIA champ — one to Kamehameha — seeded number one — so this team was amazing," Murakami said. 

He added, "I think the only group that knew that we had a chance at doing something special was the 19 girls. I don't think anybody anticipated us to be this far this late in the season and then to be 0-0 at halftime with Kamehameha in the semifinals, so heck of a run by the players."

As opposed to Kamehameha — which scored all of its goals Saturday in the final 27-plus minutes — the Buffanblu didn't waste much time getting on the board. 

Just about five minutes into the game, Maya Yoshimura found Maliana Malaythong with a through ball. Malaythong took a touch then fired a shot that was blocked by goalkeeper Marisa Lam. However, Malaythong's shot ricocheted off Lam's hands and found the feet of Yoshimura, who put the second chance away into the back of the net. 

"I played that through ball and just anticipating that the ‘keeper was going to deflect it because Mali has a lot of power on her foot, but that ‘keeper is super good so we anticipated just to crash the ball and so I was just in the right place at the right time and the ball came right to my foot and I just finished it from there," Yoshimura explained. 

Yoshimura, a junior forward, has been on the varsity squad for three seasons. 

"She was the lone freshman three years ago," Punahou coach Shelley Izuno pointed out.

In each of her first two seasons on the squad, the Buffanblu capped off the year with a state championship. 

"It feels amazing. I mean, my freshman year I didn't contribute as much time on the field so it feels awesome to be back and to just have a little bit more (playing) time and contribute with such a big role," said Yoshimura, who scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season Saturday night.

In Monday's opening round of the tournament, it was Yoshimura who scored the go-ahead goal early in the second half to help Punahou rally to a 2-1 win over Kaiser. 

"Maya's a great contributor in every game. She's not always the one putting the ball in the back of the net, so it was nice to see that it was her today," Izuno said of the junior forward. 

A few minutes after Yoshimura's goal to give her team an early lead against Na Menehune (12-4), Malaythong crossed a pass into the box, where Kylie Tang was able to get her head on it, but her shot on goal went over the crossbar. 

In the 17th minute it was Aina Nakamura who put a shot on goal from about 12 yards out, but it was saved by Lam. 

Punahou doubled up its lead in the 25th minute, when Kelsey Yoshikawa converted an open look on goal from about 11 yards out. Yoshikawa received a pass from Olivia Schiel on the right flank and slotted a right-footed shot into the lower left corner of the goal past Lam. 

Moanalua registered its lone shot on goal of the match in the 50th minute. A Kamehameha defender slipped, which allowed Sammantha Williamson to take a shot from distance that was easily saved by goalkeeper Xeyana Salanoa. 

Izuno praised the collective effort of her defense, particularly center-backs Erika Marciel and Haley-Scott Recarte, outside-backs Elana Kawai and Emily Sparks, as well as holding-mid Ryah Wong. 

"The defense has been our workhorse the entire season. They don't get the acknowledgement of scoring goals but they show up for us and at the end of the day we need them to keep the balls out of the net too, so they did an amazing job, like they've been doing all season," Izuno said.

In the 68th minute, Punahou added to its lead when Tang connected a pass to Yoshimura, who put away her second goal of the night into the bottom right corner from about 13 yards out. 

"Kylie just put that ball right on my foot. All I had to do was take a touch and just placement over power for that one," Yoshimura said. 

The Buffanblu have leaned heavily on — and certainly benefitted from — their vast depth of talent over the course of their three tournament games this week. Izuno noted that all but one player — freshman goalie Samantha Shiroma — played against Kaiser Monday. Izuno was able to get all of her 23 players on her roster into both Friday's semifinal win over Kamehameha-Maui and Saturday's Moanalua match. 

"We've never had this kind of depth and I credit them (for) just pushing each other in training and just doing what we ask them to do," Izuno said. 

Punahou's depth was evident by their 31 substitutions against the Menes' three. 

Ultimately, the constant revolving door of players coming on and off the pitch provides the Buffanblu with fresh legs in the game. 

"It's amazing. I mean, the depth that we have on this team just allows us to rest and I mean, our (second) game of the tournament against Kamehameha-Maui was super difficult and I think we, as a team, knew we had to rest a lot of our players knowing that the games ahead, so it was super good that we just had the depth and the substitutes to be able to contribute as well," Yoshimura said. 

Conversely, Moanalua went to penalty kicks in Friday's win over tournament No. 2 seed Mililani — not that longtime coach Nikki Dela Pena was using that as an excuse. 

"It's all a part of the game so these girls knew we had to battle just as hard as it was (Friday), so that's just the way the game goes," Dela Pena stated. "We thought we could come out here and continue to play and we did as best as we could tonight."

It was just the second time Moanalua has been shutout this season. It had won six of its last seven contests and saw its four-match winning streak come to an end. 

"We knew exactly how dominant (the Buffanblu) were on offense and that's exactly what they gave us. Our plan was to try and at least slow down the attack — (they were) just too quick for us today," Dela Pena assessed. 

Lam came up with six saves in goal for the Menes, who finished fifth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association tournament two weeks ago. 

Moanalua was trying to return to the state championship match for the first time since 2005 — its only appearance in a final — when it finished runner-up to Punahou. 

"Very proud of these girls," Dela Pena said. "I think up until the whistle they continued to play, they continued to work for each other, so very proud."

Punahou and Kamehameha split their two prior meetings this season. 

The Warriors posted a 1-0 win at Kunuiakea Stadium two days before Christmas and the Buffanblu returned the favor with a 1-0 decision at Alexander Field on Jan. 3. 

"Familiar opponent and just a huge challenge every time," Izuno said. 

Moore, her counterpart, had a similar outlook on the matchup. 

"I mean, obviously always Punahou-Kamehameha it's gonna be a big game, but any state final, I mean, it's always a big game, so we've met up many times in the regular season, we've met up four times now in the finals, so we've just got to take care of business," Moore said. 

The Warriors won in penalty kicks in the 2022 championship game, but the Buffanblu avenged the defeat with a 3-0 victory a year later and retained their title with a 2-1 decision last season. 

Kickoff Monday at the Waipio main stadium is scheduled for approximately 7 p.m. and will follow the Division II state final between Mid-Pacific (9-3-1) and Kamehameha-Hawaii (12-1-1) at 5 p.m. 

The HHSAA previously announced that all consolation games beyond Saturday have been canceled. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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