Tuesday, November 6, 2001
The Hawaii women's soccer team has an opportunity to reverse several regular-season results when it opens Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament play tomorrow at Wescott Field in Dallas. UH takes
postseason challengeBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comThe Wahine are seeded No. 4 in the event after finishing in a three-way tie for second place with Rice and Boise State.
The Owls earned the first-round bye and No. 2 seed because they beat UH and BSU during the regular season. The Broncos are No. 3 since they blanked Hawaii, 3-0, Oct. 26.
In tomorrow's first-round matchups, UH (8-9) plays Boise State (10-6-1) while No. 5 Tulsa (9-8-2) meets No. 6 seed Fresno State (7-9). The unconventional first-round pairings are the result of a coaches vote prior to the start of the season.
The UH-BSU winner takes on Rice (7-8) and the Tulsa-FSU winner plays host and regular-season champion Southern Methodist (13-3) Thursday.
"If we couldn't finish in second, then this is the best possible situation for us," UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "If we had lost Saturday (to Fresno State), we would have met SMU in the semifinals."
In the match with the Broncos at Boise, Idaho, the Wahine dominated until they gave up a silly own goal. It happened when three defenders didn't communicate and decide how to clear a ball with no BSU player in the vicinity.
"One concern is we don't always do the easy things. This can be a communication or confidence factor," Tenzing said. "If we play the whole match like we played the first 25 minutes in Boise, it will be difficult for us not to win."
Should Hawaii advance to the semifinals, the opponent is Rice, a 3-2 winner over the Wahine in overtime Oct. 14. It was a match Hawaii twice led by a goal and all three Rice goals came on shots from outside the box.
The championship match is Saturday. Hawaii would have to win three matches in four days to earned the WAC's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. This is the same type of schedule the Wahine had on three road trips during the season.
"We didn't do too well. We're going to have to be extraordinarily well focused. There are more trophies at the end of this trip," Tenzing said.
Hawaii played 11 of its 17 matches on the mainland this year, compiling a 4-7 record. However, the Wahine finished the regular season the same way they started, with three consecutive victories.
The Wahine have a clean slate as far as yellow and red cards are concerned. All the regulars are available.
This is Hawaii's second trip to the postseason tournament in three years. In 1999, when just four teams qualified, the Wahine lost in the first round to SMU, 2-1 in triple overtime.