WAIMEA — Kamehameha and Hawaii Prep remained undefeated, and Kealakehe and Konawaena gained some separation from the field Saturday at Dowsett Pool, setting up a pair of hefty matchups for the final full card of the season next weekend. ADVERTISING
WAIMEA — Kamehameha and Hawaii Prep remained undefeated, and Kealakehe and Konawaena gained some separation from the field Saturday at Dowsett Pool, setting up a pair of hefty matchups for the final full card of the season next weekend.
Kamehameha (7-0) remained steady with two more overwhelming wins, knocking off Konawaena 17-6 and surging past Waiakea 18-7.
Kaitlyn Kubo led the way for the Warriors with nine goals on the day. BIIF scoring leader Hali’a Nahale-a added a pair of hat tricks, bringing her season total to 33.
Hawaii Prep (5-0) used a late rally to down Konawaena in its only game of the day, outscoring the Wildcats 6-1 in the final quarter to escape with a 12-7 victory.
Lousia Duggan scored all of her game-high four goals in the second half for Ka Makani, and Janelle Laros tallied a fourth quarter hat trick to secure the victory.
The two undefeated squads will face off next weekend at Kamehameha for the first time this season. The Warriors have outscored opponents 119-26 this season, but HPA has demonstrated similar dominance over the field and are hungry to knock off the perennial champs.
The Wildcats fell to both undefeated squads Saturday and are now 4-4 this season with the upward trending Waveriders hot on their heels for the No. 3 seed in the BIIF playoffs.
The Waveriders and Wildcats battle for seeding also comes to a head next weekend as the teams face off at Kamehameha. However, HPA and Kamehameha have proven to be in a league of their own atop the standings, so even earning the No. 3 seed may not provide any solace for the victor.
The Waveriders held on despite a late surge from Waiakea on Saturday, pulling out a 7-6 victory to improve to 3-4.
Kealakehe held a five-goal, fourth quarter lead against the Warriors, and head coach Derek Monell used the opportunity to get his bench players some valuable experience.
“It was a little closer than we wanted but I also got to work in a lot of girls that don’t get to play a lot,” Monell said. “Waiakea played a great game at the end and they saw an opportunity and jumped on it. We had to shut the door and we barely did.”
Waiakea is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but would need a lot of help the rest of the way to edge Kealakehe for the final playoff spot.
Players were granted even more opportunity for pool time later in the day with two open games — contests that don’t count in the standings, but let the girls play in live game situations. Monell thinks it has been one of the more valuable additions to the water polo season.
“You don’t want to call them JV games because then you can’t have any new juniors or seniors play in them,” Monell explained. “This is the first time in 10 years that I have been here that we are having open games.”
