KEAAU – Kamehameha’s boys soccer team’s winning streak appears to have extended right through the offseason and into the preseason.
Kevin Waltjen’s debut season wasn’t perfect, but it was close and everything fell into place. The senior-driven Warriors lost their opener at Hawaii Prep and never lost again, pocketing the school’s first HHSAA Division II title along the way.
“Last year was very fortunate,” Waltjen said Tuesday as his squad scrimmaged in between preseason tournaments. “We’re building this year, but we’re building with skilled players, so it’s going to be a good, fun year.
“They want to get to states and they want to win states again. Now, how do you get there, that’s going to be the question.”
Instead of senior strong, these Warriors are jammed with juniors. The class, including co-captains Buddy Betts and Cuinn Cariaga, will try to help fill the voids that need to be addressed at midfield, fullback and in goal.
Perhaps no other BIIF soccer team lost more quality talent.
“Other people, since we lost a lot of seniors, they probably feel we’re not as strong,” Betts said. “But coming back and watching everybody grow from the beginning of practices, everyone has improved from the Big Island Candies (tournament), everyone showed that we can all step up and play our games as a team.”
There are big shoes to fill at most parts of the alignment, but that’s not the situation at striker, where senior Jonathan DeMotta returns after scoring a team-high 21 goals last season, the last one coming on a penalty kick to lift the Warriors past Kapaa in the state final.
That title almost felt like a manifest destiny, considering how connected the senior core was and how long they’d been playing together.
Waltjen sees a similar symmetry forming this season between the returning 11th-graders: Betts, Cariaga, Christopher Knell, Luukapu Roback, Ethan Shimabukuro and Jake Toci.
“The junior class, they are pretty tight and they recruited juniors that have physical capabilities,” Waltjen said. “They are turning their love of soccer over to their classmates, which is an interesting thing because it helps strengthen the program.”
The Warriors also had the benefit of a winning offseason in that many played together during the summer and beyond, giving Cariaga a chance to get his feet wet as the new leader of the backline and make formation recommendations to his coach.
Like most coaches, Waltjen builds from the back, but he wants to make sure the Warriors are always looking to attack – not counter-attack.
“My style is that if you’re on the attack most of the time, you don’t have to play defense most of the time,” he said. “If you play defense most of the time, you’ve got to hope they don’t score on the mistakes that you make.”
He used wins against Kauai, Honokaa and Makua Lani last weekend at the Big Island Candies tournament to whittle the roster from 35 to 26, 14 of whom are returnees.
“We have a lot of work because we have a lot of new starters,” he said. “We have to make sure the chemistry is all good, their skills are tighter. Right now are skills are a little bit low in comparison to what we had last year.”
Betts and sophomore Logan Waltjen are the key pieces at center midfield, sophomore Trysten Mahaulu has the potential to provide a strong presence as a holding mid, and Knell and Shimabukuro could see time up top with DeMotta.
“Looking back at how last season went, I like having the pressure,” Betts said, “it feeds me more. It makes me more hungry to get to the goal. Anyway we get it to the back of the net is a team effort.”
Three of the four fullbacks are taking on new roles, but they gained seasoning last year as Roback joins Cariaga at center back and sophomore James Hudman and senior Uzziah Crisostomo-Dizol fill in at left and right back, respectively.
The situation at goalkeeper is an interesting one.
Toci was handpicked by BIIF player of the year Jameson Sato to take over in net during a shootout in the 2018 state semis, helping the Warriors beat Pac-Five to reach the final. Toci would seemingly be the heir apparent, but Kevin Waltjen said sophomores Christian Hironaga, Makoa Kalaola-Maruquin and junior Connor Mondina are in the mix for playing time as well.
“It’s funny,” Waltjen said, “they are working hard and driving each other to get better.”
Betts said he doesn’t pay attention to the winning streak, which stands at 14 – or 17 if you count the preseason.
Kamehameha next takes to the pitch Friday against ILH Division I power Iolani at Ka Makani Soccer Classic in Waimea. Even a rare loss, Betts said, wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“For us, it’s about us getting better. Everybody has a sense of what everybody does and what spots need help,” he said. “Be on the look out for us, we’re coming to play.”