UH needs to take care of business at home

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine need to make their final homestand count with wins if they are to be in a good position in the Western Athletic Conference standings two weeks from now.

Hawaii plays Louisiana Tech and Utah State this week and ends the home season Oct. 22 against San Jose State. The last two WAC matches are away at Nevada and Fresno State.

LOUISIANA TECH AT HAWAII When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m. Where: Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium. Series record: UH leads 1-0. Last meeting: The Wahine beat the Lady Techsters 3-0 last year in Ruston, La. Notes: UH is 5-4-1 in Western Athletic Conference home-opening matches. ... The Wahine are 16-2 in their last 18 home conference matches.

"There is no doubt that if you don't win the home games, you put yourself in a bad situation. We need to win these three for the overall success of the program," said Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing.

"We still haven't given up winning the entire thing. If we win here and at Nevada, then the Fresno State match is winner take all."

Fresno State was the coaches' preseason pick to win the regular-season title, with UH voted to place second.

The Wahine (7-6-2) have lost four of their last five matches. In the four defeats, the opponents' winning goals were scored in the second half.

Tomorrow night the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters make their first visit to Hawaii. The varsity program is in its third year and has yet to win a WAC match, but the Lady Techsters (4-5-2) did score their first conference goal last week in a 2-1 home loss to Utah State.

The Lady Techsters began the season with three consecutive wins, but are 1-5-2 since and have scored just three goals in the five losses.

Despite LaTech's lack of success in conference matches, Tenzing will issue his standard warning before the match, one he felt wasn't heeded by his players until the second half against winless Idaho last week.

"I sound like a broken record, but I'm very careful to point out to my team before every game that all D-I teams can play if you let them," said Tenzing. "Our success is from putting pressure on the ball. We have to keep doing that."

Emily Cleaveland and Brook Kelly lead the LaTech offense with five and four goals, respectively.

Sophomore striker Taryn Fukuroku has been the hottest Wahine scorer with six goals in the last six matches for a season total of eight. Kelli-Anne Chang is next with five goals and Ambree Ako has four.

The Utah State Aggies (6-7) also are making their first visit to the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium for Sunday's 5 p.m. match. They play at San Jose State tomorrow before jetting into town Saturday.

The Aggies have won three of their last four matches, including a 1-0 win over San Francisco, a team the Wahine tied 0-0 here on Sept. 17.

Utah State banks on its defense (14 goals allowed in 13 matches) because the offense has produced just 10 goals. All six victories have been by a one-goal margin.