[ UH SOCCER ]
Rice rips Rainbow Wahine
4-1 in WAC tournament
DALLAS >> The Western Athletic Conference championship dream drowned for the Rainbow Wahine soccer team yesterday on a cold and rainy night at Southern Methodist's Westcott Field.
One day after enjoying a practice session that Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing called 'beautiful,' the Wahine played their worst match of the season.
Rice dominated Hawaii 4-1 in a semifinal match to advance to tonight's title showdown with SMU, a 3-0 winner over Texas-El Paso. The Owls (11-7-1), in just their third season of varsity competition, are in the championship match for the first time and are riding a seven-match winning streak.
"We got what is called a good old-fashioned shellacking. It was a sad night for us," Tenzing said.
The second-seeded Wahine had their eight-match unbeaten streak stopped and finish the season at 13-5-1. Rice eliminated UH last year in the first round.
Sarah Yoder put Rice up 1-0 at the half by scoring on a rebound of a Marisa Galvan head shot that went off the post at 23:54.
UH had two opportunities in the final minutes of the half to equalize the score -- including a free kick by Arlene Devitt at the corner of the 18-yard box -- that just missed.
Yoder then assisted on Ashley Anderson's goal 1:56 into the second half. Anderson received a feed in the center of the box and tapped the ball across the goal line at 46:56.
Following a flurry of shots on the UH goal, Laura Barber found the net at 67:29 and Yoder left no doubt about the outcome when she scored on a header off a pass from Barber at 73:45.
"We didn't play well. We really didn't play well," Tenzing said. "We've never played in the rain, but that is not an excuse. They just beat us.
"They were much better in the air than we were. At halftime we made some corrections and tried to keep the ball on the ground, but nothing worked for us. We didn't control the ball. They were always first to the ball. We just got beaten and there are no two ways about it."
The Wahine avoided a shutout when Robyn deHay scored at 87:35 with an assist from Devitt.
Rice also held two-time WAC Player of the Year Natasha Kai without a goal for the first time in 10 matches.
