UH perks up offense
to beat Bowling Green
The Hawaii soccer team sputtered trying to find its rhythm and organization in the second match of the season yesterday afternoon at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium.
When the Rainbow Wahine settled down, the goals came.
Sophomore striker Natasha Kai scored twice and junior striker Robyn deHay assisted on three goals as Hawaii defeated the Bowling Green Falcons (0-2) 4-0 to claim runner-up honors in the Ohana Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi Tournament.
"We were exceedingly flat to start this match. Mia Moe, Arlene Devitt and some other kids kept us in the match," said UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing.
"Finally we started to see the open field and make good passes. Getting the goals in the first half, that's always a momentum change. I feel the players were trying too hard to get that first win because we were an unproven entity."
The teams operated between the penalty boxes for the first 20 minutes with neither goalkeeper having to deal with a difficult shot as most arrived from long range.
The first test came at 20:15 off the right foot of UH striker Arlene Devitt, who launched a 30-yard attempt that Falcon goalkeeper Ali Shingler managed to fist over the crossbar at the last second. Shingler also made a good save at 25:44 on Natasha Kai, who received a perfect through-ball from Devitt.
Samantha Meister, left alone for a moment, put a hard shot on UH's Mahoe Atay from 20 yards out a minute later, but the sophomore goalkeeper from Maui had position for the easy save.
The first Rainbow Wahine goal of the season came at 29:19. Striker Robyn deHay flicked a pass to midfielder Tia Medeiros in the center about 35 yards out. Medeiros kissed the ball forward to Devitt, who beat a diving Shingler with a 12-yard shot to the middle of the net.
Hawaii (1-1) kept pressing and, a minute later, Shingler again had to make a diving stuff of Kai's one-on-one attempt from close range.
"I was rushing things," Kai said. "If I had taken my time and seen what I had available, I could have placed the ball."
However, with the half coming to a close, deHay found Kai wide open on the right side with a one-touch pass and this time Kai beat Shingler with a chip shot into the net at 43:16 for a 2-0 UH lead.
"We had better crossing runs from the strikers. Arlene did a good job holding the ball while we got organized and I started checking back more to get the ball from the back," said deHay.
The second half was evenly played until deHay sent a long ball through to Kai, who juked Shingler and pushed the ball into the open net at 80:22.
DeHay's three assists tied a single-game record held by former Stanford teammate Erin Quattromani, who played for UH a year ago, and Tiffany Makue.
Three minutes later Moe sent Krisha Kai through with a pass up the middle and the freshman from Kahuku duplicated her older sister's effort with a 12-yard shot for her first collegiate goal.
"I was so excited to see her score," said Natasha, who left the match when Krisha entered. "She is going to have a lot of fun with us. Imagine her scoring a goal in her first collegiate game."
The Rainbow Wahine leave Wednesday for three matches against opponents in Southern California.
UH Athletics
