WAIPAHU — Freshman Maya Palaroan scored twice and King Kekaulike negated Kahuku's team speed yesterday in a 3-0 first-round victory of the JN Automotive Group/HHSAA Division I Girls Soccer State Tournament at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Na Ali'i improved to 12-2-1 and advanced to meet fourth-seeded Hilo in today's quarterfinal round. Kahuku fell to 6-7-4 and will play Roosevelt in an elimination game today.

King Kekaulike controlled much of the possession and capitalized on its offensive opportunities. Kahuku, which had an improbable run to the O'ahu Interscholastic Association title game, never found its rhythm and couldn't utilize the speed of sophomore Zhane Santiago.

"We've never played this way before and honestly, I think if we played our game, we could have won," Kahuku coach Krisha Kai said. "The girls wanted it, but they didn't perform the way they felt."

The Red Raiders arrived at the field just minutes before the scheduled 3 p.m. kickoff because the team bus arrived an hour late, Kai said. The game kicked off about 15 minutes later.

Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively in the first half until King Kekaulike junior halfback Bianca Rajan scored in the 32nd minute. The play began on Taylor Bergau's corner kick, which was headed by Maci Tokunaga and ended with Rajan scoring on a left-footed shot from inside 10 feet.

"Maci headed it toward the goal, the goalie blocked it and I just rebounded it," Rajan said.

Na Ali'i extended their lead in the 50th minute on Palaroan's point-blank shot off an assist from Rajan.

"Bianca gave me a great cross and I just placed it right in the net," Palaroan said.

Palaroan scored her second goal in the 67th minute. "Bianca shot it and the goalie blocked it with her hands and I was just there to kick it in," she said.

King Kekaulike coach Gundi Dancil said senior forward Mia Minkler and Palaroan have been a proven combination this season.

"The senior gets the brunt of the markers and that frees up Maya a little and she's been able to score her share of goals," Dancil said.

Dancil said he wanted to keep the ball away from Kahuku to help slow the speedy Red Raiders.

"We told our ladies that Kahuku would play very physical and that they had good speed up front," Dancil said. "But we do have some speed also and the only way we could match their speed was to keep the ball up front and get our speed working for us."