By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Tricia Nishikawa tries to cut off Texas
Christian's Tara Rudiger during last night's match.
Scoring spree helps Wahine
By Al Chase
reach first big goal of season
Star-BulletinOne team goal down and one team goal to go for the University of Hawaii women's soccer program. The Wahine found a goal-scoring touch unseen before against an NCAA Division I opponent in the final match of the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Shootout at Ala Wai Field last night.
The 5-0 victory over a young Texas Christian University (0-5) team marked the first time the Wahine have defeated a Western Athletic Conference foe although it does not count in the Pacific Division standings.
It also was the most goals UH has ever scored against an opponent from any level.
Unlike their previous matches, the Wahine (3-1-1) set the offensive tone early, but missed on two good chances in the first four minutes.
UH's Amanda Paterson had to make a diving save on a shot by TCU's Allison Callerri 11 minutes into the match and hauled in a dangerous corner kick 23 minutes later as the Horned Frogs occasionally tested the All-WAC goalkeeper.
The Wahine goal barrage started when striker Lara Anzai took a through pass from midfielder Wendy Miyashiro and converted from the left side 19 minutes into the first half.
Eleven minutes later, midfielder Megan Lytle raced down the left side, pushed a pass toward the middle to striker Tricia Nishikawa, who dribbled around a defender and scored on a low shot just inside the left post.
The 2-0 halftime advantage quickly became 4-0 early in the second half.
Miyashiro, on a ball cleared by the TCU defense, found herself all alone about 35 yards out. With no hesitation, she unleashed a sharp shot that TCU goalkeeper Carrie Walsh went high for, only to have the ball slip off her hands into the net two minutes, 20 seconds into the half.
Two minutes later, Nishikawa received a pass from midfielder Jennifer Hamm just inside her half of the field, beat a defender and scored her second goal on the breakaway with a low shot into the right corner of the net.
Reserve midfielder Heather Mendez, a freshman from Wai-anae High School, accounted for the final goal with four minutes to play when she pushed the ball into an open net following a scramble in front of the goal.
"The best part about this match was we got to play everybody," UH head coach Pinsoom Tenzing said.
"Tricia was a little shabby at the start, giving away some balls, but then she was magic.
"TCU is the kind of team that can beat you if you give them a chance and we didn't want to do that. We wanted to pressure them the whole match."
It showed as UH outshot TCU, 21-10. Some of the credit goes to the Wahine defenders, who did a good job of challenging the Horned Frog strikers throughout the match.
Paterson, playing just her second match for the Wahine since returning from a stint with the Australian National Women's Team, has the north-south view of all the action. She sees a difference this year over last season and it's in the middle.
"Wendy and Jennifer are connecting very well and we didn't have that last year," Paterson said.
GOAL NUMBER TWO: Qualify for the WAC tournament. The Wahine can do that in the five Pacific Division matches in October.
Tenzing says Fullerton has an excellent team led by a striker who has scored 43 goals in two seasons.
The Wahine are 1-1 vs. Fullerton, have never played Northridge and are 1-1-1 vs. Loyola Marymount.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
