“I would have been disappointed if we lost,” Smith said.
By JOE FERRARO
Stephens Media
KEAAU — Shooting for the stars took on a special meaning for Kealakehe’s girls soccer team.
Before the season started, the Waveriders set a goal of affixing stars on the uniforms of future Kealakehe jerseys, signifying a Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division I title. Six other teams in the school’s 17-year history experienced that agonizing so-close-but-so-far-away feeling when trying to reach that goal, falling in the BIIF title game.
That set the stage for the 2011-12 version of the Waveriders, who were in seventh heaven Saturday at Keaau, knowing they will finally get their stars.
Senior midfielder Rachael Bianchi’s penalty kick in the 34th minute lifted Kealakehe to a 1-0 win over Konawaena in the BIIF Division I championship match.
The Waveriders also achieved another milestone in the process, becoming the school’s first team to go undefeated in BIIF play.
“I don’t think it’s possible to put it into words,” Bianchi said of Kealakehe’s banner season. “It’s overwhelming.”
After the match, senior midfielder McKenna Davidson wore a Kealakehe championship T-shirt, displaying the words on her sleeve — perfect, 14-0 — with pride.
“It feels good to be the first (team) to get the star on the jersey,” Davidson said.
Both the Waveriders (14-0) and Wildcats (10-3-1) will represent the league in the Division I state tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Feb. 4 at Oahu’s Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.
The HHSAA will release tournament brackets today.
Kealakehe received its penalty kick after Konawaena was called for a handball in the 18-yard box.
Then Waverider coach Jim Smith looked to Bianchi — someone Smith said has the calm demeanor required for penalty kicks.
“Rachael has composure with the ball,” Smith said.
Since the midway point of the first half, the teams played in a steady downpour, with neither team buzzing around the net as much as it had in previous games.
Both teams managed six shots.
Smith said his team may have enjoyed a slight edge in possession in the second half.
“It was pretty much a struggle in the middle of the field,” Smith said.
Both goalkeepers — Kealakehe’s Sulley Schuster and Konawaena’s Britney Paahana — stood tall when tested.
Schuster stopped Wildcat junior Saxon Nagata’s hard shot from the top of the box on a free kick, bobbling the ball before falling on it in the 18th minute.
Paahana, who drew praise from Konawaena coach Guy Miranda, turned back a similar shot from Davidson, leaping high to deflect the ball over the crossbar in the 51st minute.
“They gave it their all, and that’s all I can ask from them,” Miranda said of his players. “We just have to regroup and get ready for the battle on Wednesday.”
Smith said he would like his team to return from Oahu with at least two victories. The Waveriders went 0-2 last season.
As for the team’s BIIF title?
For Smith, who came into the season with six experienced seniors in Davidson, Bianchi, Isla Kruger-Burgess, Cheyanne MacMullen, Brittany Denzer and Kyonna McDonald, the championship was expected.
“I would have been disappointed if we lost,” Smith said.