GIRLS: Waiakea 3 – Hilo 1
A second-half surge spurred by Kau‘ionalani Mahi-Murray led Waiakea High’s girls soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Hilo High on Friday afternoon at the UH-Hilo soccer field.
The victory evened the record between the rivals, as Hilo and Waiakea are now each 1-1 against each other this season.
“Hilo and Waiakea is a rivalry, so it’s just always a hard-fought game,” Waiakea head coach Steve Petner said. “That’s what you like to have. Pushing five years now, (Hilo) has always been our hardest game. We know we have to play hard in order to compete, because they’re always gonna be tough.”
The Vikings defeated the Warriors 2-0 in the pair’s last matchup — and prior to Friday, Hilo had only surrendered one goal on the season.
“You’re thankful to have a team like Hilo High to play. As a coach, that who you want your team to play — good quality teams like Hilo. To me that’s the exciting part.”
Waiakea also snagged the No. 1 seed in the BIIF Div.-I playoffs because of Friday’s victory. The win moved WHS to 10-1-0 as Hilo slid to 9-1-1.
On Monday, both teams will play in the BIIF DI semifinals. No. 1 Waiakea will host No. 4 Kealakehe and No. 2 Hilo will host No. 3 Konawaena — both games will kick off at 3 p.m.
Hilo struck first during Friday’s matchup, as Sera Barize scored a ten-yard goal around the 21-minute mark.
Facing a second loss to Hilo in seven days, Waiakea emerged from halftime with aggression and focus.
“It’s sometimes an such emotional game for the two high schools,” Petner said. “Sometimes everything is going too fast, and it’s just a matter of calming down a bit and trying to play how we train. We possessed the ball more in the second half.”
At the 41-minute mark, Mahi-Murray assisted Shanay Ha‘a for the game-tying goal.
The Warriors gave the Vikings almost no time to breathe, striking again four minutes later as Mahi-Murray broke away and hit a ten-yard goal.
Mahi-Murray scored her second goal at the 67 minute mark, putting Hilo in a tough hole to exit with such little time remaining.
“I think we weren’t mentally in the game,” Hilo head coach Kari Hock said. “When we got down, we just couldn’t recover.”
Though it was a tough loss to take, Hock believes that it was exactly the kind of adversity her team needed to experience in order to succeed going forward.
“I told them ‘this is the best thing that could happen,’” Hock said. “We needed this to get mentally stronger for what’s ahead. That was the only difference between last Friday and this Friday. I think we can make some adjustments and come back stronger.”
The Vikings and Warriors could very well meet again, less than a week later in the BIIF DI championship.
Hilo is matched up against Konawaena, which the Vikings beat twice — 3-0 and 6-0 — this season. Waiakea will play Kealakehe, which it routed in mercy-rule fashion, 9-0, in late September.
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BOYS: HILO 2 – WAIAKEA 1
Hilo High’s boys soccer team avenged its girls squad’s loss, defeating Waiakea 2-1 to cap off Friday’s home double-header.
This ended the Vikings’ regular season on a high note, and they are bound for the BIIF DI playoffs with a record of 7-2.
Hilo’s goals came courtesy of Malu Andrade and Noeau Betts. Aziah Nelson scored Waiakea’s only goal.
The boys’ playoffs are a week away, starting with the semifinals on Jan. 29.
Hilo is set to get the No. 2 seed, meaning it will play against No. 3. Kealakehe High (8-1) leads the division, and will get the top seed.
At 4-3-1, Waiakea is still in the hunt for BIIFs — but has two remaining, tough tests ahead. On Tuesday, the Warriors will host the undefeated, defending DII state champions — KS-Hawai‘i (8-0). KSH has defeated every BIIF DI team besides Waiakea — downing Hilo 1-0, Kealakehe 5-0 and Kea‘au 5-0.
Waiakea will finish its regular season Thursday at home, playing against Hawaii Prep (3-4-1).