Win gives Rainbow Wahine WAC tournament’s top seed

The Hawaii soccer team clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament with a 3-0 victory last night over Nevada.

The Rainbow Wahine (9-7-2 overall, 5-1 WAC) are assured of a tie for first place but hold all the tiebreakers relative to the No. 1 seed.

Natasha Kai increased her scoring lead in conference matches to eight goals with her first hat trick of the season, much to the delight of the largest crowd (2,010) of the season at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium.

The Wahine played with controlled aggressiveness, constantly beating the Wolf Pack to the ball, especially the defenders -- Krisha Kai, Lehua Wood, Koren Takeyama, Shawn Higa and her replacement when she left with a sore neck, Tehane Higa.

"We talked a lot about winning the one-and-one balls. The back line was just fabulous doing this," UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "Our kids were nervous before the game and we didn't want to take anything for granted. The Wolf Pack are a completely different team this year. They have come from last place to first place. It's no shame on them."

The Wolf Pack (10-6-1, 4-2) suffered their first WAC shutout. They would have to beat host San Jose State tomorrow and have UH lose to Fresno State to tie for first.

The Wahine had the better of the early action, forcing four corner kicks in the first 16 minutes with Adria Campbell's header over the crossbar being the closest to finding the net.

The Wolf Pack's best early chance came on a 19-yard drive by Aivi Luik from dead center that veered wide left.

Kai's 12th goal of the season gave the Wahine a 1-0 lead at 28:40.

The ball was centered by Wood from 4 yards inside the right sideline. The pass went across the goal area to Kai in the center, who passed to Kelly McCloskey coming on from the left flank.

McCloskey beat a defender with a sliding push with her right foot that sent the ball to Campbell in the middle, 10 yards out. She one-touched the ball back to Kai who drilled a low shot 2 feet inside the left post.

The assist was Campbell's ninth of the season, tying the single-season record set by Erin Quattromani in 2002.

Six minutes later, Wood blasted a clearing shot 50 yards up field that bounced once to a streaking Kai. She guided the ball on the ground into the net between a defender and advancing goalkeeper Megan Tarpenning at 34:50 for her 13th goal this year and 70th of her four-year career.

Hawaii outshot Nevada 9-1 in the first half.

Tenzing talked extensively at the break about last year's Nevada match when the Wolf Pack rallied late to earn a 2-2 tie before losing in overtime.

"Coach said 2-0 is a dangerous score, the worst score to have. If they score, they are back in the game and fighting to score again," said Natalie Groenewoud. "We came out and did not relax."

Kai got her first hat trick of the season and seventh of her career at 75:43.

"After the first goal we just kept the momentum. It's nice to finally have the No. 1 seed," Kai said.

Taryn Fukuroku dribbled the ball in from the left side, then slipped a deft pass to Kai cutting in from the right. Kai turned and gently rolled the ball back to the right and inside the post.

Hawaii ended up outshooting Nevada 21-4 and holding a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks. It was UH's fifth league shutout. The Wahine wrap up the regular season with a 5 p.m. match against Fresno State tomorrow at Waipio.