Campbell is lucky to be going to the girls soccer state semifinals.
Aryanna Cabudol’s goal in the final minute Saturday against Pearl City put the quarterfinal match into a 2-2 tie, and then the Sabers won it 5-3 on penalty kicks at Kamehameha’s Kunuiakea Stadium.
Lucky is one word to use for the Sabers. Resilient is another. Campbell (12-2-1) was without four key players and, despite going down 2-0, fought back to keep its dream season alive.
Now, the Sabers are preparing for their biggest test yet — a semifinal match against ‘Iolani (11-0-3) on Friday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium — as they try to continue marching toward the coveted Division I state title.
Campbell will have one of those four players back — sophomore center midfielder Chardonnay Curran. According to Sabers coaches, she was on a trip last weekend to a HYSA tournament on the mainland that her mom spent big bucks on a while ago.
The other starters missing against Pearl City were sophomore striker Jaelyn Chargualaf (ACL), sophomore forward Kylie-Rae Sabino (shoulder) and senior goalkeeper Brittney Ann Copp (ACL).
Senior Kiley Haraguchi, normally a forward, was thrust into goalkeeping duties when Copp went down midseason, and she is a major reason the Sabers captured the OIA title and have made it this far at states.
In penalty kicks against the Chargers (11-4-1), Haraguchi went to her right to stop Randi Fontes’ shot, allowing Campbell to retain a 3-2 lead going into the fourth round of PKs.
One round later, Campbell was still up by a PK goal, 4-3, and that’s when Cabudol — the same player who tied the match — ended it with a goal for a 5-3 PK finish.
“At halftime, I told the girls that we can’t give it away now and to suck it up,” Sabers coach Ryan Leong said. “We didn’t come this far to lose now.”
They listened.
Speaking about her big save, Haraguchi said, “I felt confident when she (Fontes) stepped to the line for the kick. I read her eyes and knew which way she was going.”
Oftentimes, Haraguchi remembers her former position.
“I’ll be back there and I’ll see someone on our team get the ball up there and I want to be playing up there, too,” she said.
Cabudol described her thoughts about the winning PK: “I know her (Pearl City backup goalkeeper Jordan Gomes) from club soccer. I had to switch sides at the last minute. I was about to kick it to my right, but I thought I saw her move that way, so I went to my left.”
As it turned out, Gomes may have been leaning to Cabudol’s right, but she darted the correct way and just missed the low shot into the corner.
It took about two full seconds for the Campbell players at midfield to realize that that goal gave them the victory and then they started to run and pile up in celebration.
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