We are now almost halfway through the soccer season for the Bulls’ varsity team, with five of eleven scheduled games in the books. With the final stretch of the season about to start, now is a good time to take a look back on the season so far before the games pick up again.
The Bulls’ first game was a home match against Makua Lani, a game which served as the season opener not just for the two teams involved, but for the whole of the BIIF high school soccer season. It would also be a rematch from last year’s season opener, when Parker lost 9-0 at Makua Lani. After going down 2-0 in the first half, midfielder and captain Matthew Shemwell, a junior, drew a penalty which was converted by another captain, Takumi Wetherell, a freshman, to net the first goal of the season for the home side and cut the difference to one at halftime. Despite the goal, the final result was still a loss, as Makua Lani took home a 4-1 win.
The next game kicked off just three days later–another home fixture–this time against Christian Liberty, a team that the Bulls had beaten 4-2 in last year’s matchup. This time Parker struck first and didn’t give up the lead after taking it. Matt and Tobias Gordon both recorded their first goals for Parker with Matt scoring two goals to bring the tally to four for the season overall. The three goals combined with a clean sheet from the defense sealed a 3-0 victory to give Parker their first points in the league standings.
Another three days later, the team headed down to Kamehameha to face the defending state champions. While Parker managed to prevent the game from finishing early, Kamehameha was still able to get an easy 8-0 win. Despite a few shots at goal–including a free kick from Matt that bounced off the crossbar–it was a similar story the next week when a road trip to Kona ended in a 9-0 defeat at the hands of Division I Kealakehe. Despite the two recent losses, there was still reason to be optimistic about the final match of 2022.
Two days after the Kealakehe game, the Bulls had another home game against Division I school Kea’au, which could prove to be a critical match come the end of the season. Despite being unable to match the scoreline from last season’s 9-0 win, Parker was still able to maintain control of the game and took a 1-0 lead at halftime off another penalty conversion by Takumi. The defense was able to hang on to the narrow lead through much of the second half before Toby put in his second goal of the season to open the gap up to 2-0 near the end of the game. With no more goals by either side, that would end up being the final score as Parker added three points to their total in the standings.
The season will pick up again after a nearly month long break in games on this Monday the 9th with a rescheduled away game against Honoka’a, before hosting Division I Waiakea on the 12th. After a short rest over the weekend, the schedule picks right back up on Monday the 16th with an away game against defending BIIF champions HPA before returning home with a match against Konawaena. Due to a schedule change, the next week, on the 24th, the Bulls have their last scheduled road game at Kohala. Following that, there is only one more regular season game, a home match on the 26th against defending Division I BIIF champions and state runners-up Hilo, before playoffs begin.
With their wins over Christian Liberty and Kea’au the Bulls should be on track to make their second straight playoff appearance, with spots in the state tournament once again on the line. Quarterfinals for Division II take place on January 28th, followed by the semifinals two days later on the 30th. The winners of those two semifinal matches will qualify for the BIIF championship game on February 1st, and the state tournament in mid-February.
With the season beginning to ramp up as it nears completion, it is more important now than ever to have as much support as possible. If you’re interested in watching any of the last home games of the season, kickoff times for those games have been pushed back to 3:30, and they are at the field just above the lower school. We hope to see you there, and thank you to everyone who has shown up to the first few games for coming out and cheering us on.