Wahine eye stretching
streak
The Hawaii women's soccer team is participating in the Montana Fall Classic this weekend at Missoula, Mont., hoping to extend its regular-season road winning streak.
The Rainbow Wahine, No. 14 in the West Region in the Soccer Buzz rankings this week, have won six consecutive regular-season road matches dating back to last year.
It is UH's second road trip this year and the second time the Rainbow Wahine have played in Montana.
"I just hope it is not as cold as I expect it to be in Montana," UH coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "The players have been warned."
The Wahine play New Mexico tomorrow and Gonzaga on Sunday in the Classic.
UH (5-2-1) will conclude the three-games-in-four-days trek with a match at Brigham Young on Monday.
The Classic opponents are riding opposite streaks. The New Mexico Lobos (3-4) have lost three consecutive matches, including the last one, a 4-2 home defeat to Fresno State. Their last win was against visiting Portland State (2-1), the team UH beat 3-1 last Sunday.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs (6-2) have won their last three matches -- over Utah Valley State (3-2), Eastern Washington (4-0) and Idaho State (2-1).
"It's a big challenge because the third game is at BYU. The Cougars tied USC and lost to Loyola Marymount," Tenzing said. "BYU has had some good victories and some bad losses, but they have always been tough at home."
The Wahine defeated USC and LMU on their last road trip by identical 2-1 scores. However, Hawaii lost both previous matches at BYU by the same 7-0 score when the Cougars were Western Athletic Conference members.
BYU (3-4-1) hosts Washington State today and Arizona on Saturday before playing UH.
Hawaii has won four of its last five matches and showed better cohesiveness in the first half against PSU. The first-half, three-goal lead allowed Tenzing to empty his bench, and the quality of the match dropped. But the reserves received significant playing time, something that could be a factor later in the season.
"The first 20 minutes we played as well as we can. We moved the ball well. I was generally happy with the entire game," Tenzing said.
Natasha Kai and Gabrielle Bohlman lead UH in scoring with five and three goals, respectively.
Jordan Johnson is the Lobos' top scorer with three goals, while Anne Hawkins tops Gonzaga with four goals.
Notes: Junior goalkeeper Mahie Atay has been cleared to play and will make the road trip. ... Tenzing will take 18 players, the maximum allowed by the UH athletic department. ... Natalie Groenewoud and Kimi Tiampo will redshirt this year. Groenewoud, a senior midfielder, injured her left ankle in the second match against Pacific, hasn't played since and has been slow to recover. Tiampo, a senior midfielder and emergency goalkeeper, reported to fall practice with a leg injury. She is not match-ready and the season will be half over after this road trip. ... Sasha Araya-Schraner, a senior midfielder, was cleared to play last week after suffering a concussion against Loyola Marymount. She returned home for a family emergency and won't be with the team this weekend.
