Hawaii warms up for home finale with rout of Boise State

With lightning bolts piercing the night sky, Hawaii's soccer team provided the thunder in a blistering second half.

Freshman Chelsea Deptula got the ball rolling with a goal 73 seconds after halftime and the Rainbow Wahine added four more second-half scores for a 5-0 victory over Boise State last night at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Hawaii (12-4-2, 5-0-1 Western Athletic Conference) overtook the Broncos (8-6-3, 4-1-1) for first place in the conference with its record eighth straight home victory. The Wahine can clinch the outright regular-season WAC title for the second time in three years by defeating Idaho tomorrow.

"We played well, even in the first half," Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "We managed to stymie their attack, and we have enough good players to do damage on their side of the field."

Hawaii scored five goals in a game for the third time this season and is now in the top 10 in the country in goals per game.

Deptula's goal come off a rebound of a free kick that she hammered into the upper left corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

It was the beginning of a three-goal onslaught in a span of 8 minutes that blew open a competitive game.

"We were playing good soccer but just weren't finishing," junior forward Taryn Fukuroku said. "Coach told us we were a better team than these guys and just needed to finish our chances."

Fukuroku scored her 10th goal of the season in the 52nd minute off a slick pass from Ambree Ako. Ako also scored in the second half and has at least one point in Hawaii's last seven games.

Jessica Domingo also assisted on the play and tied Hawaii's single-season assists record with her 10th.

Hawaii also scored on an own goal and Kelli-Anne Chang added her fifth goal of the season in the 66th minute.

Goalkeepers Kori Lu and Nicole McClure combined on the Rainbow Wahine's fourth shutout in their last six games.

"We've got terrific defenders," Tenzing said. "Chelsea Deptula won practically everything in the air. She had a monstrous game for us."

Boise State got its first legitimate scoring chance at the 18-minute mark when forward Randi Baker got loose behind the Hawaii defense. She found herself one-on-one with Lu and kicked a shot past her that hit the left post. Her subsequent rebound attempt missed wide right.

Hawaii answered almost immediately, as Fukuroku juked her defender down the left side of the field and sent a crossing pass in the box to Koren Takeyama. Takeyama's left-footed shot was saved by a diving Burns to keep the game scoreless.

Burns also came up with a huge save on a shot by Ako as Ako broke free down the middle. Burns had to come flying out of the goal to stop Ako's shot as the game remained scoreless at halftime.

Hawaii's regular-season finale against Idaho is tomorrow at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast live on KFVE.