Gaining ground in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu was almost as difficult as the players finding their footing yesterday in a boys game between Punahou and Kamehameha.

The Buffanblu and Warriors played to a scoreless tie at Punahou, leaving the top of the ILH standings unchanged with two weeks and less than a handful of games per team remaining on the schedule.

"The field made a difference, even on calls with the referee, when people would be slipping and he didn't know which way to call things," Kamehameha coach Andrew Ah New said.

"It's too bad we couldn't have played later in the day," Ah New said of the 10 a.m. start.

Both teams — winners of the previous four state titles (Kamehameha in 2008 and 2005 and Punahou in 2006 and 2007) — appeared to have problems on the field's slippery surface.

"It was terrible, but we knew that from mid-week because of the storm," Punahou coach Dave Trifonovitch said. "It created not the most pleasurable soccer. There was a lot of kickball, sliding around.

"It was a day for ugly soccer."

The ILH has two berths for the state tournament. 'Iolani is in first at 7-0-1 with 22 points (three points for a win, one for tie). Kamehameha remains in second at 6-2-1 with 19 points, and the Buffanblu are third at 5-1-3 with 18 points.

Players slipped and slid on the Punahou field yesterday, trying to gain enough traction to build an offensive attack.

The Warriors took their time mounting their attack, using various combinations between their midfielders and forwards to set up chances.

"The field didn't affect our game plan, it just affected our play," Ah New said. "(Our team) played hard today, and that was missing from some of our other games."

Meanwhile, the Buffanblu decided to go for a more direct approach, which resulted in a scoring opportunity by senior forward Alessi Sia on a long ball from junior midfielder Christian Patmont in the 12th minute that was stopped on a diving save by Kamehameha goalkeeper Koa Cano.

Another long ball to junior forward Sean Hungerford resulted in a shot by Hungerford from inside the 6-yard box that just missed wide left in the 30th minute.

"We have to win outright the rest of the way," said Trifonovitch, whose team hit two goalposts within two minutes late in yesterday's game.