Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Mililani’s youth soccer team lost their best offensive weapon on Saturday, but Trojans Kirika Hasegawa and Ethan Juntanilla were able to find the scoring touches.
Mililani beat Kalani 2-0 in the OIA Division I men’s soccer final at Kaiser with second half goals from Hasegawa and Juntanilla.
Mililani coach Stephen McGee said of his team’s use of the wind to score both goals: “During the warm-up you could see the wind affecting the ball.” “We said we’d take a shot, and we got some good looks.”
Mililani (13-0) has secured an OIA seed spot and will receive a first-round bye at the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Boys Division I Football Championship starting February 6. Aiea and Kailua will also represent the league in a 12-team tournament.
“It feels good to know that I’m the best in OIA,” said Funtanilla. “This really gives me confidence for my state, my club and my future football career.”
Defending OIA Champions Mililani currently holds 18 league titles.
Hasegawa deftly controlled the high hop and delivered a 1-hopper from 32 yards to the bottom left of the goal at 58:21, past Falcons goalie Robert Pruner.
“I’m not sure what happened,” said Hasegawa, who has scored three goals this season. “It just kind of happened. I just saw the ball and my teammate on the flank told me to shoot, so he did.”
The OIA West No. 1 seed Trojans won 2-0 off the rebound in 64:48 with Funtanilla’s header not coming back. Keegan McGehee’s free kick from the right flank was punched out by Pruner, Jayden Sotelo’s shot went off the crossbar and the goal he charged just in front of the line as he headed towards Funtanilla.
“We were really going down the field and it was a great opportunity to score, so we just took advantage of it,” said Juntanilla, who scored his sixth goal of the season.
The Trojans played without top scorer Andre Estaniki, who has scored 24 goals this season.
He received a red card for Thursday’s semi-final victory over the Kaiser and was not allowed to play on Saturday.
“Andre is really the heart of our team, so I feel like we all had to step up,” Juntanilla said. “He’s doing a good job promoting play.”
The No. 1 seed in the OIA East, the Falcons’ best scoring chance came in the 18th when Jenson Hughes received the ball from a Mililani defender in the middle of the penalty box, but his shot ended up on the Trojan goal. Blocked by keeper Kobi Miyamoto.
Mililani had a chance in the 36th minute when Kai Martin received a pass from Tiden Lau in front of goal, but his shot was blocked by Pruner. The rebound went to Sotelo, whose shot was blocked out of bounds.
In the 50th minute, Trojans Martin got a bounding ball just in front of the goal line, but his shot went off the crossbar of the football goalpost, about a yard above the football crossbar.
