KAILUA-KONA — Makua Lani advanced to the BIIF Division II boys soccer semifinals while also avenging a regular season loss to Parker on Tuesday with a dominating 5-0 victory at Old Airport Park.
The No. 4 seeded Lions (7-5-2), who lost to No. 5 seeded Parker (6-8-0) by one goal during the regular season while playing without two starters, took advantage of a couple of mistakes by the Bulls keeper to grab an early 2-0 lead. DJ Madigan walked in two goals late in the first half, allowing Makua Lani to cruise to victory in the second half.
“We played these guys earlier in the season and we lost so we knew they had the potential to beat us again,” said Lions head coach Alex Dong. “This time I wanted to make sure we played with a lot of intensity and a lot of urgency. I think that is something we lacked the first time.”
With the win, Makua Lani will now take on Hawaii Prep (11-1-0) Thursday. Ka Makani are the No. 1 seed in the tournament and have already clinched a state berth. Hawaii Prep defeated the Lions 5-1 during the regular season.
“We know it is going to be a tough game and we will need to tighten up the back against them,” Dong said. “We are going in with a feeling that we have nothing to lose.”
Makua Lani picked up its first score of the game on a shot from near midfield by Michael Christensen. After taking a pass from Madigan, Christensen looked up and noticed Parker keeper John Ian Owens out of position. Christensen hit a shot over the keeper’s head and the ball bounced into the net for a 1-0 advantage. The score came on the first shot of the game by Makua Lani.
“Man, weird things happened,” Dong said. “A lot of the defenders have talked about pushing further up the field and Michael comes out and scores a goal. It was really exciting.”
Taylor Warnecke put the Lions up by two midway through the first half. Warnecke took a shot from the left side of the box and the ball bounced off Owens. The Makua Lani player then spun around the keeper to grab the rebound and knocked the ball into the now wide open net.
As the half neared the end, Madigan decided to put on a show with his foot skills by dribbling the ball into the net twice over a three minute period. On the first score, Parker elected to send a free kick at midfield back to their keeper. The pass from the Owens back out to midfield was intercepted by a Makua Lani player, who then passed to Madigan. Madigan outran his defenders and then juked the keeper, running the ball into the net.
“Recently I have been taking a lot of shots and I have missed all of them so I felt like I couldn’t really rely on my shooting and felt like I needed to dribble it all the way in just to be sure,” Madigan said. “I didn’t want to take any chances.”
A few minutes after his first score, Madigan grabbed the ball deep into Parker territory, danced around a couple of Parker players and the the Bulls keeper, and walked the ball into the net for the second time for a 4-0 lead.
“DJ is one of the most talented players on the island and right off the bat teams come out and double team him,” Dong said. “There were a few times out there where Parker’s defense got so stretched out because they were throwing three or four guys on him and all he had to do was knock it to the side and we had 10 yards of space to hit a shot.”
The skies started to darkened at the start of the second half with the clouds rolling into town off the volcano, and a light rain began to fall as the wind picked up. Despite the weather, the Lions continued shooting.
Shortly after the break, Noa Moniati took the ball into the box. Running side-by-side with a Parker defender, Moniati dribbled the ball to the six and sliced it into the net with the side of his foot for the team’s fifth goal of the game.
Parker continued to battle and nearly broke the shutout late in the second half when Tage Boyette sent a shot in from just inside the 18. The ball sailed just wide of its intended mark.
Emmett Alcos, the Makua Lani keeper, did not have to worry about many shots heading his way during the game, but he did manage to make a few tough stops to earn the shutout in the net.