Reload was probably a better word to describe Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s season than rebuild.
Ka Makani showed steady improvement throughout the season, culminating in the school’s sixth consecutive trip to the HHSAA Division II title match and fourth straight championship.
The year was a coming out party for sophomore Emi Higgins. She stepped up and scored 19 goals on the season, according to scoringlive.com, including at least one goal in each of Ka Makani’s last six games, earning her this year’s All-BIIF DII girls Player of the Year honor as voted on by West Hawaii Today, Hawaii Tribune-Herald and league’s coaches.
“This means a lot of hard work has paid off and I am very thankful,” Higgins said. “This is the product of the entire team working hard together and I am happy about that.”
The season started with a bang for the young Hawaii Prep forward. Higgins scored five goals in her first league game of the season and had 12 after four games.
“Higgins really stepped up from last year and handled the load after we graduated a number of players,” said HPA head coach Steve Perry. “Some people don’t handle the spotlight and pressure well, but she did from day one. In fact, she thrived on it. She enjoyed the challenge of being the marked person and if she couldn’t score, she passed to a person who could.”
As the season progressed and the challenges got tougher, Higgins proved that she could be a clutch performer. Higgins scored in each of the team’s playoff games, including the only goal in both the BIIF and HHSAA state championship match. The goals were crucial since Hawaii Prep won their last six games by only one goal.
“Emi has really good foot skills and can take on a defender well. She has long legs and is technically sound,” Perry said. “She took advantage of any openings she had and though she was not the fastest player, she used her size well.”
The HPA standout found the back of the net quickly in the league championship when she took a volley from Payton Au, scoring in the fifth minute. Ka Makani held on for the 1-0 victory.
In the HHSAA tournament, Higgins scored in all three days in Oahu, including the lone state championship goal.
Playing against Kapaa for the title, Zoe Ganley took a free kick from just inside the center line, serving a ball that Sophie Aguilar headed near the penalty box. Higgins ran the ball down and dribbled to the six-yard line. She then left-footed a shot past the Kapaa keeper in the 31st minute.
“It feels great to be able to carry on a legacy,” Higgins said. “We had a lot of the older girls supporting and texting us along the way. To create a new legacy for ourselves is great for the entire school and community.”
Though Higgins was the key cog for Ka Makani, Hawaii Prep could not have won without all the parts of the machine that is HPA soccer. Hawaii Prep had six total players named to the All-BIIF First Team list, edging out Kamehameha, which had four.
Perry called these six players — Higgins, midfielders Rowan Kotner and Jenna Perry, defenders Julia Perry and Teah Van Bergen, and keeper Maia Mills — the “core right down the middle of the field.”
“If those players were on, we were tough to beat,” said Perry, who added another Coach of the Year honor to his resume. “We were not a good team in November but we grew together and got better and that is all that I can ask for. By mid-January we knew who we were and we played our best soccer in the last week of the season. It was very enjoyable.”