’Bows seek first
home victory
The Hawaii soccer team is going after a "first" today at 5 p.m. when Long Beach State provides the opposition in the final match of the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Soccer Classic.
Long Beach State
When: Today, 5 p.m. |
"More than victories, I want to see good, attractive soccer," Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "And, again, we don't want to give away a goal. We've done that in about every game this year, but to the players' credit, they have come back to tie one and win three.
"If we don't give away a goal, we'll be fine against Long Beach State (3-1-1). The 49ers play pretty much like they did last year. The player (senior striker Kristin Travis) who gave us trouble the past two meetings is still around."
The Wahine (3-2-1) have struggled putting the ball in the Waipio nets, scoring just once on an individual effort by Robyn deHay against Pacific, despite outshooting three opponents 47-42.
"I'm not that concerned about the goals," Tenzing said. "We were one pass away from cracking that nut against Duke. We just could not deliver that final pass into acres of land between the goalkeeper and the last line of defense."
The player who accomplished that the most consistently was center defender Jessica Uecker, but she was delivering the ball from long range, which gave opposing defenders time to react. The Wahine need more through passes or chip shots over the defense from the midfield unit.
"We need to pressure the ball, track loose balls down," he said. "We have to bring our 'A' game to the field on any given day or we will get beat."
Duke won the Classic on Saturday with a 3-0 victory over Long Beach State.
