The Long Beach State 49ers won the Ohana Hotels & Resorts Shootout in a physical showdown with Hawaii by playing to a 1-1 overtime draw at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium last night. Wahine draw despite
Devitt’s ejectionBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.comBoth schools finished with 1-0-1 records, but the 49ers allowed fewer goals.
The Wahine were a player short for the final 69:22 when Devitt, after being obstructed and cracked across the face, received a red card at 41:38 for swinging in retaliation at defender Allison Wiegand.
"That's a helluva long time to play with 10 players. I'm very proud of our team, they could have folded," UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing said.
"I didn't expect a physical game, but the marking on Arlene and Natasha Kai was too close and it set a wrong note."
Long Beach State scored first when Abie Curry caught the Wahine defense napping at the center circle, chase down a clearing pass and beating UH goalkeeper Mahie Atay one-on-one with a grass cutter inside the left post 5:37 into the match.
The 49ers had the better of the first 20 minutes of action. Their passing was crisper, more accurate and they were more active in beating the Wahine to free balls.
Kai's head shot off the cross bar from Mia Moe's free kick at 19:12 was UH's first decent scoring opportunity. Six minutes later Kai received a pass from Pam Fong seven yards out but misfired wide right. Moe took Arlene Devitt's free kick at 28:48 inside the box, but had her shot blocked by 49er sweeper Diana Sanguinetti.
The Wahine tied the score 35 seconds into the second half when Joelle Sugai crossed from the left into the middle where Kai took the ball out of the air with the inside of her left foot and lobbed a shot over goalkeeper Meghan Hartwyk.
The 49ers controlled much of the second half with the man advantage. The UH defense cleared three consecutive corner kicks between the 58th and 60th minutes with Atay, the tournament's most valuable player, punching the first attempt over the bar at the near post.
She made a diving save on a cross from the left by Wiegand that would have given an easy shot to Curry, who was waiting unmarked on the right. At 71:02 a 40-yard shot from the right by Sanguinetti tested Atay's leaping ability as the ball headed for the upper left corner, but the freshman from Maui was equal to the task with a fist save.