The Honolulu Soccer Club Bulls 91 Ka'ula boys soccer team scored three goals in the second half to defeat Arsenal Gold, 3-1, yesterday and advance to the 17-under quarterfinals of the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regionals.

"We were focused and really ready," said Bulls midfielder Ikaika Fuerte, who scored the go-ahead goal. "The beginning was sketchy but in the second half we pulled it off."

Arsenal, a wild card team from Colorado, took a 1-0 lead into halftime at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park.

The Bulls needed at least a tie on the final day of pool play to advance out of the preliminary stage. Last year, they failed to do so.

"That gave us motivation to get out of pool play this year," Bulls captain and defender Brock Granger said.

After the sluggish start to the game, "we all just got mad at each other for not performing the way we expect to," Granger said of a halftime pep talk.

It worked.

Bulls forward Chance Bukoski scored in the 52nd minute on a combination play with Kevin Johns.

"Out of the corner of my eye I saw the keeper come out and I flicked the ball over him," Bukoski said. "It felt like everyone was holding their breath."

Fuerte scored in the 87th minute after fending off three defenders and breaking free to take a shot. His initial shot was blocked. Bukoski shot the rebound, but his shot was also stopped. On the third shot of the play, Fuerte put it in.

"It was pretty big; putting us through to the next round," Fuerte said.

Just before the end of the game, Bulls forward Kimo Komomua put it away on a long sprint from the defensive third of the field, chasing down a header from Bukoski then sprinting to the other goal and touching the ball under the Colorado goalkeeper.

"It felt good," Komomua said. "I just ran for it. We did a lot of conditioning."

Colorado scored in the sixth minute on a 25-yard shot by Jeffrey Westra.

"It was so early in the game we knew we had time to get back that goal," Komomua said.

Bulls coach Phil Neddo marvels at the talent on his team.

"They have skills beyond their dreams," he said. "It's just a little lack of discipline, gamesmanship, and believing in themselves.

"This team reminds me of the 85 boys, but in some places they have more skill. What they lack is experience. They have the potential to be better."

That 85 Bulls team is the only one from Hawai'i to win Regionals, taking the under-19 title in 2004. It also won the national championship that year.

LEAHI 91 MAKES MOST OF SECOND CHANCE

Perhaps the most exciting news of the day came from the Leahi 91 Premier girls in the under-17 division. Leahi thought it had missed a chance to advance to the quarterfinals after falling to LOSC Soul Crew, a wild card team from Oregon, 2-1, yesterday.

Nearly a half-hour after coaches sent their players home, they found they were in a numerical deadlock with New Mexico on all tie-breakers (head-to-head, goal differential), and the teams needed to take penalty kicks to decide who would advance out of their group. So the coaches called the players — many of whom remained at the park — to come back to the field.

Leahi's Brittney Sanford and Kellee Murayama made their penalty kicks, but the teams needed a sixth shooter to decide the winner, and Jasmine Luke made her kick to clinch it for Leahi.

EIGHT HAWAI'I TEAMS REACH QUARTERFINALS

Eight teams from Hawai'i advanced to tomorrow's quarterfinal round.

Boys teams that advanced were HSC Bulls 96B Ka'ula (U-12 boys) and HSC Bulls 91 B Ka'ula (U-17 boys). Two Hawai'i boys teams also advanced out of the U-19 division in Real Copa 89B and HSC Bulls 89B, a wild-card team.

Girls teams that advanced were Leahi 96 Premier (U-12), HSC Bulls 93G Ka'ula (U-15), Leahi 91 Premier (U-17) and Leahi 89 Premier (U-19).

NOTES

Today is an off day. The tournament resumes tomorrow with the quarterfinals. The semifinals are Saturday and the championship games Sunday.