[ UH SOCCER ]
EL PASO, Texas >> The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine took a 2-0 lead but could not hold off Texas-El Paso's high-powered offense in a Western Athletic Conference women's soccer match last night. Early lead doesn’t
hold up for UHFrom staff and wire reports
The Miners (13-1-0, 4-1-0 WAC), who lead the nation in scoring with 72 goals, rallied for three goals, the last one coming at 89:01 by sophomore midfielder Heather Clark off an assist by Kelly Parker, to secure the 3-2 win.
Hawaii's first goal was scored by Natalie Groenewoud. Krystalynn Ontai took a corner kick from the right side that was cleared by the UTEP defense, but it went right back to Ontai heading toward the middle of the field. She sent a pass to Groenewoud, who settled the ball, then drilled a left-footer into the upper left-hand corner of the goal from 22 yards out at 17:26.
Ten minutes later, Joelle Sugai crossed the ball into the middle from the left side. Natasha Kai headed it back to Sugai, who continued to advance on the goal. She controlled and poked the ball into the net from 5 yards out at 28:10 to give the Wahine (5-6-2, 2-1-0 WAC) a two-goal lead.
The Miners got on the board at 35:23 when Kaletia Roberts headed in a free kick from Parker off a restart.
"We played badly the first 20 minutes of the second half and we didn't handle their set plays well, which we knew about," said UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing.
Holly Cohen tied the game at 60:13 when she tapped a loose ball over the line that had been rattling around following a corner kick.
The winning goal also came off a restart as Parker lofted a ball into the box that Clark headed home.
"Parker has a phenomenal foot in terms of accuracy and soccer savvy," Tenzing said. "She makes tremendous decisions on the field. She always has two or three options. We contained her well in the first half, but she found all kinds of room in the second half and pretty much destroyed us."
Six minutes prior to that goal Kai was on a breakaway, but was taken down from behind on the box, but the ref pulled the spot of the foul back to about the 25-yard mark.
The Wahine travel to Dallas today and play defending WAC champion Southern Methodist tomorrow afternoon.
UH Athletics