WAHINE SOCCER
Wolf Pack blow out Rainbow Wahine
RENO, Nev. » The Nevada Wolf Pack made sure their first win over Hawaii was emphatic.
They crushed the Rainbow Wahine 5-0 in a Western Athletic Conference women's soccer match last night, the Wolf Pack's first triumph over UH in seven matches.
It was Hawaii's worst loss since a 7-0 defeat at Brigham Young in 1998.
Despite losing their third consecutive match, the Wahine (8-9-2 overall, 2-4 WAC) still qualified for next week's conference tournament. That happened when Idaho and Louisiana Tech tied 1-1 yesterday.
Hawaii, with a regular-season-ending match at league-leading Fresno State tomorrow, can finish no lower than sixth place.
"We didn't play well. We deserved to lose. We just weren't ready," said Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing.
"We had too many young players on the field. They got two goals in 3 minutes and we had no answer for that."
The Wahine began the match with two freshmen -- Emma Makepa-Foley and Emily Chun -- making their first starts in the back line and Nevada took advantage.
The Wolf Pack (10-4-3, 3-2-1) struck quickly on goals by Miranda Montejo at 1:10 and Aivi Luik at 2:40. Both goals were off assists by Samantha Miller. Luik scored again at 27:27 to give Nevada a 3-0 lead at the half.
The Wahine did not take a shot in the first half. They only managed four in the second half and only one was on goal.
The Hawaii players also had trouble adjusting to the artificial surface, making it difficult to control the ball.
Nevada's quick-strike offense struck again late in the match. Karen Zmirak put a left-footed shot into the net at 84:07, then assisted on Kenishia Warren's goal at 86:13.
The Wahine have lost three consecutive matches, their longest losing streak since the 2000 season.