SEASIDE, California – No. 21 Hawai’i Hilo man’s soccer pulled the rabbit out of the hat with back-to-back scores late in the waning minutes to complete an epic comeback in a 3-2 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay Thursday evening at Cardinale Stadium.
After a tied 1-1 score through halftime, CSUMB managed to squeak ahead with a 74th-minute score on Alexis Sanchez’s 22-yard clean up off a corner-kick second ball. The Otters kept the pressure on and managed a few near-score opportunities, including a leaping tip-out for one of Vulcans goalkeeper Paul Waschkau’s seven saves.
Hawai’i Hilo settled in and after drawing a foul just inches outside the penalty area coming off a corner-kick play, Colby Lee lobbed the free kick up and over as Koki Hamada thundered his way through the crowd to head the equalizer in.
On the ensuing kick-off, Monterey Bay nearly answered but Hamada made a sliding stop to initiate the counter-attack. Lukas Stark, who had just entered into the game, found himself racing down toward the right corner and sent a cross in with Kanata Taira’s soft touch setting up Brian Trujillo to blast through the game winner.
Waschkau made another diving stop in the final minutes to close up the victory in his Vulcans debut in goal.
Earlier in the match, Hawai’i Hilo got the first equalizer just before the end of the first half with Shudai Ito bending in a 30-yard free kick through the right side.
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 4-1-0 (0-0-0 PacWest) while Cal State Monterey Bay moved to 2-1-1 (0-0-0 California Collegiate Athletic Association).
The Vulcans will finish up their three-game road trip with a matchup against Cal Poly Humboldt this Saturday, Sept. 21, at Chabot College Soccer Field in Hayward, California.
Next home game will be the PacWest Conference opener against Academy of Art on Oct. 1.
Hawai’i Hilo Men’s Soccer landed its first-ever national ranking, coming in at No. 21 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II Top 25 Week 2 Poll released this past Tuesday.
The Vulcans also moved up to two spots to No. 3 in the latest West Region poll.
Women stump Western Oregon
With the pressure mode set to high all match-long, Hawai’i Hilo women’s soccer netted a pair of goals for a 2-0 victory in the Vulcans’ home opener Thursday afternoon against Western Oregon.
Hawai’i Hilo out shot WOU, 18-2, with an 11-1 shots-on-goal advantage.
The Vulcans got on the scoreboard early into the match with Filippa Graneld’s first goal of the season coming off an olimpico from the corner in the seventh minute. The fifth-year senior launched the corner-kick opportunity from the left pocket and curled it in high and tight around the near post, off the goalkeeper and in for the score.
The lead held up through the next 30-plus minutes of play until Teani Arakawa showcased her sharpshooting skills with a top-right laser from 25 yards out to add on and make it a 2-0 game.
Western Oregon was not only kept out of the scorers column, but also in the shots tally in the second half with zero recorded attempts. Both teams made goalkeeper changes at halftime as Kaytlin Blair made her debut for the Vulcans, coming in to close out the combined team shutout with Phoebe Barnes.
The Wolves’ Sophia Pierce and Isabella Lopez combined for nine saves with the latter managing to post a clean sheet for the second half.
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 2-0-2 (0-0-0 Pacific West Conference) as Western Oregon moved to a 0-2-3 record (0-0-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).
The Vulcans will hop over to O’ahu for a non-conference tilt at Chaminade this Saturday, Sept. 21, before returning to Honolulu a week later to open PacWest Conference play against HPU (Sept. 28) at Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
Next home match is set for Tuesday, Oct. 1 against Academy of Art.
In the second United Soccer Coaches Division II Rankings released this past Tuesday, Hawai’i Hilo moved up one spot to No. 7 in the West Region.
Last week, the Vulcans took down then-eighth-ranked Seattle Pacific, who did not appear in the latest top 25 poll. Hawai’i Hilo did not appear as one of the teams outside of the top 25 listed for receiving votes.
All-time best
In Hawai’i Hilo’s victory over Seattle Pacific last week, Arakawa netted three goals and an assist to become the Vulcans’ new all-time career leader in points — surpassing 53 points set by Kristine Pasek (Stancil) (11-14). The Maui native joined the Vulcans in fall of 2022 as a sophomore transfer and now carries career totals of 22 goals and 12 assists.