WAHINE SOCCER
Irwin’s hat trick wipes out Wahine
Nicole Irwin scored her second hat trick of the Western Athletic Conference season to lead San Jose State to a 4-2 win over Hawaii at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park stadium last night.
Irwin's scores came on the only shots the visitors took in the second half.
The victory kept the Spartans (7-8-2 overall, 4-0-1 WAC) in a first-place tie with Fresno State. The Rainbow Wahine (8-7-2, 2-2) slipped to fifth place, one point behind Nevada, their opponent Friday on the road.
Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing, aware of Irwin's scoring prowess from her attacking center-midfield position, had his defense mark her closely in the first half. This allowed the Spartans to make good use of their wings.
SJSU's Cristin Murphy made two early runs up the right wing. On the first one, she forced UH goalkeeper Kori Lu to save a left-footed drive from 12 yards out, and got a corner kick out of the second.
The first Wahine shot on goal came at 10:53. Alexis Choi fed Taryn Fukuroku a ball that the sophomore striker belted low on the ground, but SJSU goalkeeper Marissa Dayton stuffed it at the left post.
The Spartans got on the board at 13:38 when Hallsie Pacheco crossed a ball from the left that split the UH defense. Murphy, a senior midfielder waiting unmarked on the back side, easily pushed the ball across the goal line from 8 yards out.
Murphy got loose again at 20:50 and set Nicole Martinez up with a nice pass into the middle of the box. Martinez's point-blank attempt from 6 yards off the line was blocked by Lu, as was a rebound shot by Murphy before a whistle for a foul stopped the play.
Tenzing then made a tactical move at the half.
"I decided not to mark Irwin as close in the second half because she had been ineffective. That was a mistake. Her goals were brilliant," he said.
The Spartans took a 2-0 lead at 48:09. Irwin dribbled from right to left across the top of the box and beat Lu with a low, left-footed shot from 20 yards that found the net inside the right post.
Irwin increased the SJSU lead to 3-0 at 65:26 when she took a long ball, dribbled twice, then drilled a shot into the upper right corner with her left foot.
The Wahine took the ensuing kickoff into Spartan territory and scored at 65:53 to get the crowd of 1,017 excited.
Ambree Ako's left-footer off a pass from Jessica Domingo found the upper left corner. It was the first goal against SJSU in WAC play.
Minutes later, Koren Takeyama made a run up the left side. The junior defender chipped a pretty cross to the right side, where Kelli-Anne Chang controlled and one-touched the ball inside the left post at 67:38, cutting the UH deficit to 3-2.
"That is the most dangerous team we have played this year. They are fast, pass the ball well and don't give up," said SJSU coach Dave Siracusa.
Irwin eased the pressure when she stole a pass from the UH defense in the middle of the field and immediately blasted a 27-yarder into the upper left corner at 76:42.
The Wahine, who outshot the Spartans 9-3 in the second half, were frustrated when Heather Oranje blocked a Fukuroku shot on an open goal at 77:32 and Chang's header went over the cross bar at 88:33.