[ UH SOCCER ]
Wahine rally falls
short against SMU
The Southern Methodist Mustangs survived an exciting comeback attempt by the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine to take a 4-3 Western Athletic Conference victory back to Dallas.
The Mustangs (10-2, 3-0) built a 4-1 lead after 31 minutes, then held on as UH (7-4-1, 2-1) closed within one goal at halftime and missed on four tremendous opportunities in the second half last night at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park stadium.
The last came at 89:10 as Natasha Kai slipped a pass to Robyn deHay on the left side. DeHay then beat a defender only to watch her ball slide by the right post.
The Mustangs wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Lauren Mussallem controlled a poor clear by the UH defense off her initial shot and chipped her second shot into the upper left-hand corner of the net from just outside the penalty box at 1:27.
Moments later, Amanda Jordan served a long ball from the left to a wide-open Olivia O'Rear on the right wing. O'Rear cut in and beat advancing UH goalkeeper Mahie Atay with a hard, left-footed shot inside the left post.
The Wahine responded on the ensuing kickoff with a charge upfield that resulted in Kai sticking the ball in the open net at 3:50 off a through ball from deHay.
The Mustangs struck again at 12:23 when Erin MacCallum took a pass at the top of the box, dribbled to her left and beat Atay with an angle shot back to the right to increase SMU's lead to 3-1.
Adria Campbell, a freshman from Punahou who entered the game two minutes earlier, set up SMU's fourth goal at 30:56. Campbell took a throw-in just outside the box on the left, and, left unmarked, centered a pass to Kim Harvey cutting across the box from the right. Harvey neatly sliced the ball off her right foot inside the left post.
Once again, UH came back on the kickoff. Arlene Devitt put a ball through to Kai on the right. Kai dribbled around SMU goalkeeper Amanda Clark and centered a pass that Kalena Eaton drove home from 13 yards out at 31:27.
Clark made a spectacular save on Joelle Sugai's wide-open attempt from 10 yards out at 33:39 with a diving hand stab that redirected the ball over the crossbar.
The Wahine got a break at 38:13 when Devitt's hard shot inside the penalty box caused a hand ball. Devitt nailed the penalty kick, UH's first of the year, to cut SMU's lead to 4-3.
The Wahine had three super chances early in the second half. Sugai flicked a ball coming across the middle that just carried outside the left post at 53:10. Devitt's shot from 8 yards away around a diving Clark hit the right post and rebounded into the field. Clark then made a sliding foot save on Natalie Groenewoud's point-blank shot from 8 yards out at 65:28.
The Wahine host Texas-El Paso tomorrow at 5 p.m.
