Monday, October 5, 1998
Wahine stumble
By Al Chase
against UCLA
Star-BulletinMaybe Hawaii's choreographed, game-opening play that saw Veronica Flores' shot hit the inside corner of the right post and bounce right to UCLA goalkeeper Lindsay Culp did it.
Maybe taking on the home team in the championship match of the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi Tournament created the spark the UCLA Bruins needed.
Displaying what Bruin head coach Todd Saldana termed a "killer instinct," something that was missing in Saturday's victory over Villanova, the Bruins, ranked 12th by Soccer America, defeated the Hawaii Wahine, 4-1, last night at Ala Wai Field.
"Tonight we got the first goal and kept being aggressive offensively," said Saldana.
Tracey Milburn put UCLA (10-1-1) ahead at 9:03 with a fine individual effort down the left side before pushing the ball into the right corner of the goal.
Midway through the first half, a handball on Megan Lytle's cross resulted in a penalty kick. UH's Tricia Nishikawa converted at 26:10 to tie the score.
But the Bruins' overall field use and technique made it more and more difficult for the Wahine (7-2) to sustain offensive thrusts. The Bruins were adept at closing the passing lanes and, led by junior defender and offensive organizer Skylar Little, they were proficient at creating counter attacks.
Five minutes after the penalty kick, Bree Edwards controlled a ball along the right sideline and passed toward the middle to Breana Boling. Dribbling past three defenders, Boling found an opening and left-footed a shot from the 18-yard line into the right corner of the net to give UCLA the lead.
"If you give the ball on the ground to a good team from the back, they are going to bite you," UH head coach Pinsoom Tenzing said.
Boling's second goal, a killer 15 seconds before halftime, came after Karissa Hampton made a nice run with the ball and sent a perfect cross on the ground to Boling streaking in from the right side.
"They are just a very good team. Defensively we put a lot of pressure on, but we still gave a lot of balls away," said UH co-captain Wendy Miyashiro.
"Their movement of the ball was much better than ours and that will make any team look slow," said Pinsoom Tenzing. "Our kids stuck to the game plan. We knew we couldn't play soccer with them. We just tried to deny them by pressuring them.
"What they (UH players) need to get out of this is we had a game plan, stuck to it, could have done it, but we gave away too many goals. The central thing is you keep possession of the game and we didn't do that."
The Wahine open Western Athletic Conference play with matches at Brigham Young Friday and Utah Sunday.
"I think this is what we'll face against BYU," said Miyashiro, "It'll be at altitude and cold. We've got our work out for us."
1998 UH Wahine Soccer Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
