[ SOCCER ]
The San Francisco Dons kept the pressure on the Hawaii defense in the final 10 minutes and it paid off at 89:07 when Liz Sylva chipped in a rebound off the hands of goalkeeper Mahie Atay for a 3-2 victory in the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Soccer Classic at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium. Dons' late goal
beats Wahine
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comAtay had gone high in the air to block a hard shot off a corner kick by Victoria Bloom outside the penalty box, but could only slap the ball down to Sylva's waiting right foot, much to the dismay of 643 fans.
It's the second-consecutive last-minute defeat for the Wahine (1-3-1) who play No. 5 UCLA (3-1-0) today at 5 p.m..
The Wahine had solid scoring opportunities on breakaway situations at the four- and seven-minute marks but came up empty.
First, Natasha Kai dribbled in on USF goalkeeper Jennifer Orantes from the left side, beat her, but played with the ball too long and had her shot blocked on the goal line by Alana Healy and cleared by the Don defense.
Three minutes later Joelle Sugai made a run down the left side, angled in toward the goal line and crossed the ball to the right only to have Carmen Calpo slash her shot off the crossbar.
The Wahine long-ball strategy ran into difficulty with offsides violations against USF's flat back defense and the play of Orantes, who roamed far outside the 18-yard line to clear long, UH through balls.
The Dons (3-1-1), who did not create anything testy for Atay in the first 20 minutes, struck suddenly at 21:06. Ashley Chaffin, standing just outside the 18-yard line with her back to the goal, directed a short lob pass from the left back about 5 yards to Stacey Caro who's one-time drive beat UH's freshman goalkeeper in the upper right corner.
USF increased it's lead to 2-0 at 36:43 when Stephanie Gray drilled a direct free kick into the upper right corner from 20 yards out on the left side.
Hawaii finally made the long game work when Kai served Arlene Devitt a through ball down the center and the junior striker from Kauai angled a step to the left, then beat Orantes with a grass cutter to the right at 39:23.
The Wahine drew even at 68:53 when Krystalynn Ontai pushed a ball to Mia Moe, who had her shot blocked on a leg save by Orantes. However, the rebound went to Calpo, alone 11 yards out on the left side from where she softly volleyed the ball into the open net.
