Monday, October 25, 1999

Wahine earn playoff spot

WAHINE PLAYBOOK

Star-Bulletin staff

The Hawaii Wahine are going to the Western Athletic Conference soccer playoffs for the first time.

Sophomore strikers Jennifer Starsiak and Veronica Flores scored goals as UH blanked Texas Christian, 2-0, yesterday.

The shutout was the fourth solo effort by junior goalkeeper Demarre Sanchez, a new single-season school record.

The victory enabled Hawaii (4-2-0 WAC, 10-6-1 overall) to finish in a tie for second place with Southern Methodist in the final conference standings.

Not bad for the Wahine, who were picked to finish last in the coaches preseason poll.

The Lady Mustangs, by virtue of their win over UH Saturday, will be seeded second for the WAC playoffs, which start Nov. 4 and are hosted by SMU.

Fresno State plays San Jose State in one semifinal with Hawaii and SMU meeting in the other. The title match is Nov. 6.

Starsiak opened the scoring with her sixth goal of the season at 28 minutes, three seconds.

Tiffany Makue, playing an attacking midfield position for the second time this season, delivered a pass up the middle to Starsiak.

The Massachusetts native sent a hard, rising shot with her right foot that ripped through the outstretched hands of TCU goalkeeper Keith-Ann Wagner. The backspin carried the ball over the goal line.

Flores, who had nine shots, but missed on a couple of excellent opportunities earlier, gave the Wahine breathing room at 83:49.

Sophomore midfielder Kelly Keohen made a nice run into the right corner and crossed the ball.

Starsiak, facing Keohen, flicked the ball backward with her head to Flores, who was waiting all alone 12 yards out.

She trapped it, pushed it, then planted it in the upper right corner of the net.

It was Flores' ninth goal, equaling the single-season mark set by Tricia Nishikawa last year.

Flores now has 21 points (9 goals, 3 assists). She is the second Wahine to record 20 or more points in a season. Nishikawa was the first.

Makue was filling in for Kammie Aguada, who was ill.

"Tiffany played just as well as she did against UTEP and Wendy (Miyashiro) was all over the place as usual," UH head coach Pinsoom Tenzing said.

"We were solid today. The game should have been more comfortable than it turned out. We didn't finish some easy chances. The bad thing is a few kids didn't get a chance to play."

The shutout was the seventh this season, equaling the record set a year ago.

Hawaii concludes the road trip with a nonconference match today against Texas Wesleyan, then returns home to play Hawaii Pacific Friday on campus.

Hawaii		1	1 - 2
Texas Christian	0	0 - 0

UH: Jennifer Starsiak (Tiffany Makue), 28:03.

UH: Veronica Flores (Kelly Keohen, Jennifer Starsiak), 83:49.

Shots-UH 16 TCU 13. Saves-UH 4, TCU 6. Corner kicks-UH 2, TCU 5. Fouls- UH, 17, TCU 10. Offsides-UH 1, TCU 1. A-276.

WAC WOMEN'S SOCCER

		Conference		Overall
Team		W	L	T	W	L	T
Fresno State.	4	0	2	13	3	2
So. Methodist	4	2	0	12	5	0
Hawaii		4	2	0	10	6	1
San Jose State	3	2	1	12	6	1
Texas Christian	2	4	0	9	9	0
Texas-El Paso	1	4	1	7	8	2
Tulsa		1	5	0	7	9	0

Yesterday's results

Hawaii 2, Texas Christian 0
San Jose State 2, Texas-El Paso 1
Fresno State 3, Tulsa 2 (2 OT)

Today's match

Hawaii at Texas Wesleyan

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WAHINE PLAYBOOK

AT TEXAS WESLEYAN RAMS

Coaches: Texas Wesleyan, Gilbert Richardson, 2nd season (12-19-0, .387). Hawaii, Pinsoom Tenzing, 6th season (40-59-6, .410).

Season: Texas Wesleyan (6-9-0 overall). Hawaii, (10-6-1)

Series record: This is the first meeting between the schools.

Top players: Texas Wesleyan, senior striker Michelle Richards, senior defender Alisha Watkins, sophomore midfielder Jennifer Bowmer and senior midfielder Amy Williams. Hawaii, freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Pearson (0.67 goals allowed per match) is expected to start, sophomore striker Veronica Flores, who will be shooting for a UH single-season record 10th goal.

Interesting facts: Hawaii is the only NCAA Division I school on the Rams 1999 schedule. The Wahine can equal their all-time, single-season victory total (11 set in 1998) with a win today. This is the third of four matches against opponents not on the Division I level this season, the most since the UH program gained varsity status in 1994. A win today would mean the Wahine have posted a .500 or better record on all four 1999 road trips.

Match keys: The Wahine.need to view this match as an opportunity to fine tune their offense and defense for the remainder of the season. There should be no questions as to what head coach Pinsoom Tenzing wants in terms of execution. The midfielders played very solid soccer against Texas Christian Sunday and that will be a key for the Wahine the rest of the season. As usual, UH does not want to surrender an early goal. When that happens, the game plan tends to disappear.

Kickoff: Today, 10:30 a.m., Martin Field, Ft. Worth, Texas.

On the air: None.

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By Al Chase, Star-Bulletin