Kaiser Girls Varsity Soccer has had a season with ups and downs. The stands were full of fans on Friday, January 16th, which marked the beggining of the Lady Cougar’s run for OIA Champion. Fans headed to the soccer game to watch the girls play their hearts out to a tie at the end of regulation against the Waipahu Marauders.
The game got off to a slow start, with neither the Cougars or the Marauders gaining any ground on eachother. A last-second shot by Kaiser didn’t quite make it into the goal, sending the game to extra time, not once, but twice. Unfortunately, despite an amazing stop by the Kaiser goalkeeper, Shore Carlbom at the end of the first overtime period, a header from Waipahu player Kumasaka barrelled into the goal, ending the game.
Although Girl’s Soccer wasn’t able to score on that game, many other cougar athletics teams were able to shine; The OIA diving championship was held the same day, with the Girls Diving Team sweeping the competition; Cara Tanabe placed first, Marley Mueller placed second, and Abby Tanabe placed 3rd, a dominant performance.
After watching the divers splash to glory, fans headed to the gym to watch the basketball teams. The Varsity Boys Basketball team won their game by more than 15 points against Roosevelt.
The Lady Cougar’s OIA Championship journey continues to be a heart breaker, as their loss sent them to the consolation game against Moanalua, which they ultimately lost by one. Although they lost this game, they went up to face off against Punahou in the next round, only to be defeated once again.
Even though the Lady Cougars weren’t able to reach the heights they wanted to, they still performed extremely well; They had the best record out of the OIA D1 East teams and were undefeated in league games. “We had a great team this year,” said Kayci Gakiya, a Junior on the Varsity Girls Soccer team. “There’s no drama [between the team members, and] everyone wanted to win. Even though we weren’t able to do that, we still had a lot of fun and are excited for next year.”
Carlbom agrees with her. “It has been a good year. We are going to miss the seniors next season!”
The Lady Cougars’ 2024-25 season was a rollercoaster of emotions, and although it might not have been what everyone hoped for, they had a great year and we look forward to seeing how they perform next season.
