Kamehameha was protecting a one-goal lead and looking for breathing room coming out of a timeout late in the fourth quarter of the April 23 BIIF championship match against Hawaii Prep.
When the ball was put in play for the Warriors, coach Dan Lyons clearly wanted only one player to handle it.
“Kubo, KUbo, KUBo, KUBO,” Lyons shouted with increasing volume.
That’s Katelynn Kubo – not Kaitlyn as was sometimes reported.
“Two ‘Ns,’” Kubo joked. “Extra special.”
So was the play. Kubo propelled around two defenders, using a nifty up-and-under move to get inside and bury a goal.
The Warriors would have to go to sudden-death double overtime to edge top-seed Ka Makani, and their seventh consecutive BIIF title comes with the usual jewel at the end: league Player of the Year for their MVP, which in this case is a repeat honor for Kubo, a senior attacker.
“Our team was young and they were expected to step up to the plate,” Kubo said. “I’m super proud of them. I thank them for that.”
Last season, Kubo shared the award with teammates Pua Wong and Halia Nahale-a. This season, Kubo, in addition to being her team’s top defender, recorded 11 hat tricks in 13 matches, and sophomore-laden Kamehameha needed every last one of them to maintain its throne.
“I personally think Katelynn was far and away the best player in the league, all-around,” Lyons said. “That’s not taking anything away from Elizabeth Jim or anybody like that.”
Kubo was joined on the All-BIIF team by teammate Alyssa Pelanca, an inside force and Kamehameha’s only other senior starter. HPA, the best team during the regular season, was represented by Jim and Louisa Duggan, Waiakea’s Kelee Shimizu and Konawaena’s Porsha Brandt were also selected, and Kamehameha’s Hopoe Sipinga and Waiakea’s Kaira Chang were the goalkeepers. Ka Makani’s Greg McKenna was Coach of the Year.
Lyons’ one-word scouting report on Kubo is “unconventional.”
“She has this incredible thing within her,” he said. “It’s intangible.
“Somewhere within her is a desire to get a ball and finish. One of the best things that she brings is that finisher attitude.”
Kubo might have come a long way since her freshman season, but she still isn’t a finished product, even now as she prepares to continue her water polo career at La Salle University in Philadelphia.
“Coach Dan tells me that all the time: I can’t catch, I can’t shoot, but I can swim,” Kubo said.
But, boy, can she swim.
“We’ve never been a great swimming team,” Lyons said, “but she is probably the best swimmer that we’ve had.”
Kubo is the first repeat Player of the Year since Ryenn Lyons accomplished the feat in 2010-11, a streak that started the Warriors run on winning league titles and POYs.
Still, Kubo has a place all her own in Kamehameha lore, primarily because she resembles a whirling dervish in the pool.
“She’s never been our best shooter or a great passer and it took her a while to learn how to catch and control the ball,” Lyons said. “But she has a such a high motor, intensity and heart.
“She will come all the way back to steal the ball and she will lead the counterattack. She starts the counterattack, finishes the counterattack and is back to defend the counterattack.”
A swimmer since age 8, Kubo got her feet wet during her freshman season and scored two goals in the fifth-place match at the HHSAA tournament.
Long, wiry and strong for her size, Kubo’s been a prolific scorer ever since, taking more of a leadership role along the way.
A handful of hours after Kubo helped the Warriors defend their BIIF crown, she was crowned as the queen of the school prom.
“That was a packed day,” she said. “It was great.”
La Salle is giving Kubo a scholarship worth $7,000 to help the Explorers start their program. In December, the school added men’s and women’s water polo for the 2016-17 season.
Kubo will be doing a little exploring herself.
“I’ve never been (to Philadelphia), but I’ve been to New York,” she said. “I’ve heard there is a lot of history to learn.
“I’m excited for it. I get to make new friends and have a new team.”