Facing a front-loaded schedule is nothing new to the Hilo girls soccer team.
Facing a front-loaded schedule is nothing new to the Hilo girls soccer team.
The difference this season is that the Vikings started the season with two losses. In senior Savannah Toussaint-Adviento’s eyes, that meant Wednesday’s match against Kamehameha was one Hilo had to have.
Toussaint-Adviento scored the second-half equalizer and then assisted on Danielle Brown’s go-head goal as the Vikings earned their first Big Island Interscholastic Federation victory by beating the the Warriors 4-2 at Hilo Bayfront.
“A must-win game,” Toussaint-Adviento said. “We really needed a win to get back in it. Hopefully, this will boost us up for the next game.”
After losing to Division I rivals Kealakehe and Waiakea, Hilo dropped perennial BIIF Division II runner-up Kamehameha to 0-2-0. The Vikings (1-2-0) won’t get much of a break Saturday when they host two-time league Division I champion Konawaena.
“Every year it’s like this,” Toussaint-Adviento said.
Hilo coach Paul Bello challenged his team before the match to give maximum effort for the first time this season. Then the Vikings promptly fell down by two goals in the early-going.
Toussaint-Adviento also assisted on Mehana Sabado-Halpern’s first-half goal, and Alyeemomi Amaral tacked on a late insurance goal.
“I’m not totally satisfied, but I saw some really good stuff,” Bello said. “The defense was solid. We gave up two in 10 minutes and then we shut them down.”
Kahala Huddleston and Brianna Ebbers scored for the Warriors, who were playing for the first time since a 5-0 loss at Hawaii Prep on Dec. 6.
Ahead 2-1, Kamehameha had its share of chances to extend its lead.
“We just have to be better with our opportunities,” first-year coach Gene Okamura said.
Toussaint-Adviento had two prime opportunities to tie the match midway through the second half, and she took advantage of the second one with a shot from about 20 yards out on the left flank that deflected in off of Kamehameha’s goalkeeper.
When Toussaint-Adviento set up Brown’s goal with less that 10 minutes remaining it marked Hilo’s first goal this season that wasn’t scored by either Toussaint-Adviento or Sabado-Halpern. Each has scored in every game this season and they’ve accounted for six of Hilo eight goals.
“They are going to be our scorers right now, and that opens it up for players like Danielle Brown to score,” Bello said. “I’m OK with them scoring all the goals, but if we can get more people involved it will open it up more for them.”
Kealakehe 5, Makua Lani 0: Lexi Cuaresma netted a hat trick as the host Waveriders broke open a game they led 1-0 at halftime.
“We played really well in the second half,” Kealakehe coach Jim Smith said. “We’[ve had some injuries and trying to get the right girls in the right spots has been a little trickier that I thought.”
Brittney Prados and Logan Harris also had goals for the Waveriders (2-1-0).
Nika Paogofie-Buyten shut out the Lions (0-2-0) in goal
Boys
Kahale Huddleston scored twice as Hilo shut out Kamehameha 4-0 at Hilo Bayfront.
Kalei Perry and Rod Espana also netted goal for the Vikings (1-1-0). Ka’aina Lewis, Lander Mizuba and Travis Almarza all saw time in goal against the Warriors (0-1-0).
Waiakea 9, Ka’u 0: Miles Marshall and Mike Scott bagged two goals apiece for the host Warriors, who still haven’t given up a goal this season.
Max Adolf, Gehrig Octavio, Roy Atallah, Tyler Kerr and Ethan McBraun also scored Waiakea (3-0-0).
Chris Wung and Ryden Quitoriano each saw time in goalkeeper against the Trojans (0-3-0).
Parker 4, Kohala 1: The Bulls (1-2-0) earned their first victory win a home win against the Cowboys (1-3-0).