Wahine strike early
and hold off Vikings
The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine turned their biggest scoring half of the season into a 3-1 victory over Portland State last night before a Sunday crowd of 992 at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium.
Scoring all their goals in the first half -- the biggest half since putting four balls in the net vs. San Jose State in the first half on Oct. 19, 2003 -- the Wahine relied on the reserves to seal the win in the second half.
UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing used 24 players; every player suited up who wasn't nursing an injury or who hadn't just been cleared to play this week.
"I'm really happy everyone got a chance to play. Now we can get a true measure of what they can contribute to the team. That is always nice," Tenzing said. "They (players who haven't seen action) have an idea of what we're looking for from the outside. Now they have experience from the inside."
Koren Takeyama, a redshirt freshman from Baldwin, scored her first collegiate goal to give the Wahine (5-2-1) a 1-0 lead at 14:14.
True freshman Gabrielle Bohlman, normally a striker but starting at outside right midfield, intercepted a PSU pass 20 yards inside the halfway line. She cut toward the middle and slipped a pass to Takeyama just inside the 18-yard line.
Takeyama, guarded closely and with her back to the goal, spun to her left around the defender, had the ball tick off the defender's foot, but pushed it to herself and lifted an angle shot into the upper left corner.
"I saw the goalkeeper at the near post and tried to aim the ball for the far post," Takeyama said. "I thought it was going over the top."
Moments later, Robyn deHay took a pass from Krystalynn Ontai, turned and sent Natasha Kai into open space between two defenders. Kai dribbled toward the middle of the box, drew Vikings goalkeeper Niki Brooks out, then rolled the ball inside the right post for a 2-0 lead at 15:42.
With halftime approaching, Jessica Domingo was tripped just inside midfield.
Center back Jessica Uecker's ensuing free kick found Kelly McCloskey standing by the left corner of the goalkeeper's box. The sophomore midfielder's head shot rolled untouched across the goal mouth, hitting the side of the net a foot inside the right post.
"No one was near me, so I figured I could take my time and place the ball," said McCloskey, a third-year sophomore from Santa Cruz, Calif.
"It was a perfect cross from Jessica. The ball seemed to take forever to reach the goal. Luckily, no one got in the way."
McCloskey's first career goal put UH ahead 3-0 at 42:08.
The Vikings (1-4-1) created a lot of pressure against the reserves in the second half.
For the second consecutive match, UH midfielder Seline Williams headed a shot off the goal line, this one by Shelby Crabtree at 83:50.
Portland State averted the shutout at 86:15 when Jamie Blakesley headed Katie Miyake's corner kick past Wahine goalkeeper Erin Chow.
Twenty-eight seconds after the ensuing kickoff, Blakesley broke free down the middle, but Chow smothered the ball off Blakesley's foot 16 yards off the line.
Tenzing praised the work of true freshman Lehua Wood (Kamehameha) and redshirt freshman Shawn Higa (Leilehua) at the right and left back positions, respectively. He also cited Kai for having a monster game, winning balls in the air in both penalty boxes and in the middle of the field.
