University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s coach Ziggy Korytoski understands to be successful on the soccer field, you’ve got to play consistently throughout a match and not let mistakes impact the final score.
University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s coach Ziggy Korytoski understands to be successful on the soccer field, you’ve got to play consistently throughout a match and not let mistakes impact the final score.
On Tuesday in the Vulcans’ season opener against unbeaten Montana State University-Billings, the young UH-Hilo team showed flashes of brilliance in a hard-fought 2-0 loss to the Yellowjackets (3-0). The NCAA Division II teams battled through a scoreless first half before MSUB scored twice in the final half to pull out the win at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.
“I thought we did well for our first game,” said Korytoski, a longtime college coach who was making his debut as the Vulcans’ mentor.
“It was a physical game and an emotional game with Montana State-Billings getting everyone worked up. But our guys stayed composed and moved the ball. We just didn’t get many opportunities until late in the second half when they were down to 10 players. Then we just didn’t create much. In those situations, you’ve got to score if you expect to win some games.”
The Yellowjackets scored on a UH-Hilo own goal at 37:55 in the final half to break the scoreless deadlock. They then posted an insurance goal at the 41:02 mark when Kyle Emerick scored on an assist from Thomas Chameraud.
MSUB goalie Luis Romero, who went the full 90 minutes, recorded the shutout and had eight saves. UH-Hilo goalie Eoin Hurley also played the entire match and allowed one goal with two saves.
“We’ll grow from this,” Korytoski said. “We made a couple of errors that we can’t make, and they caught up with us. We need to be more consistent and get better every game. I thought we were well organized today and did some really good things. But we’re still a work in progress, and we want to keep improving.”
Korytoski has a young team, with only five seniors on the 26-man roster. But he believes the Vulcans can be successful.
“This is an easy group to work with,” he said. “The future looks good. Guys are buying into what we want to do. It’s just going to take some time and we’ll get there.”
The Vulcans will head back to the practice field while preparing for a match with Hawaii Pacific on Sept. 15 at Kaneohe. UH-Hilo will then battle Chaminade on Sept. 17 to close out the two-game road trip to Oahu.
The Vulcans open their home season on Sept. 22, hosting Fresno Pacific University at the UH-Hilo Baseball Stadium. Action starts at 12:30 p.m.
MSUB, with a veteran roster, defeated HPU and Chaminade in earlier matches last week on Oahu.