As a coach, George Ichimaru has spent the past two boys soccer seasons molding Hilo High’s fast-paced, possession-oriented attack.
As a player Sunday, Ichimaru proved that he practices what he preaches on the pitch, scoring a goal and adding an assist to catapult Rush to a 5-4 victory against Leones Negros at Amauulu Field for the Big Island Soccer League men’s championship
“We continue to push the pace and kept the ball moving as fast as we can,” Ichimaru said. “Unfortunately, in a men’s league, we’re not trained to run all the time. We do our best.”
But make no mistake, this is not a Sunday beer league. The play was crisp, back-and-forth, spirited and intense, and Ichimaru had a large trophy afterward to show for it.
A recording of the match, he said, would showcase many of the finer points of the game that he is trying to instill in the Vikings.
“The shape, the structure, the pace, the accuracy of a pass, the precision, the communication, the intensity,” Ichimaru said, “that’s what I preach to the high school teams.”
Rush consisted primarily of former Hilo High and UH-Hilo players. Mike Reckmeyer and Jake Sagami netted goals, and the goal-ahead score in the second half came off the foot of Lewie Valentine, who one-timed a cross to answer a charge by Leones Negros of Puna.
Valentine, 37 of Kailua-Kona, is a member of the U.S. Beach Soccer National Team.
“He’s representing our country and he travels across the world playing, and we were fortunate to have him back when it was most important,” said Ichimaru, a 2004 Waiakea graduate.
Luke Memmer and Sean Chambers led the counter-attack with two goals apiece for Leones Negros, which had players from both sides of the island – 2016 Kealakehe graduate Greyson Moore was the goalkeeper – as well as the mainland. Connor Piper added two assists.
“Every game, usually I play forward to try to get some goals, and then I try to lock it down on defense,” said Memmer, a 2012 Hilo High graduate.
Memmer was also on the losing end in last year’s men’s final – Kipuupuu beat Shaka – but he clearly has a can-do attitude.
Memmer has tried unsuccessfully to make UH-Hilo’s men’s team each of the past four seasons, so this fall he’s heading to Division III Westfield State University in Massachusetts to play college soccer for a semester.
“I played against (Rush) last year and scored four goals, and we beat them in the semifinals,” Memmer said. “A lot of the same guys, but this time they got us.”