UH-H sports: Vulcans counter Chaminade; women’s golf open season

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HONOLULU — Hawai’i Hilo women’s soccer closed out the non-conference slate of the season with a 1-0 victory over Chaminade Saturday afternoon at the Saint Louis School Field.

The Silverswords looked to have set themselves up with a potential scoring opportunity after managing a cross in from the right corner, but Vulcans goalkeeper Phoebe Barnes stretched out to make a diving stop. The ball bounced out and sputtered nearby in front of the goal, but Valeria Da Silva was in the right spot to make the successful clear-out.

From there, the Vulcans flipped the field for the counter-attack as Filippa Graneld took control from midfield and sent a through ball down the right side to Savina Zamborini, who sliced past a defender and launched from 10 yards out and in through for the top-shelf goal in the 24th minute.

Hawai’i Hilo out shot Chaminade, 12-4 (6-2 on-goal), and held on for its fifth shutout of the season — fourth for Barnes.

Hawai’i Hilo moved to 3-0-2 (0-0-0 Pacific West Conference) as Chaminade moved to a 1-1-2 record (0-0-0 PacWest).

The Vulcans will hop back over to O’ahu on Saturday to open PacWest Conference play against HPU at the Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

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.

Vulcans beat Lumberjacks

No. 21 Hawai’i Hilo men’s soccer team wrapped up its first road trip of the season with a 2-1 victory over Cal Poly Humboldt Saturday afternoon at the Chabot College Soccer Field.

Colby Lee put through the Vulcans’ first goal on a penalty kick in the 16th minute and Tom Vorkastner later added the game-winner in the second half with a 54th-minute score.

“We didn’t make it easy, but we got it done,” Vulcans second-year head coach Diego Marroquin said. “These long road trips are tough, and we just had to grind it out. It was good for us to be able to answer back.”

Paul Waschkau got his second start in goal and improved to 2-0 with two saves on the afternoon.

Hawai’i Hilo closes out the road trip at 2-1 after going through the Pacific Northwest and parts of Northern California.

No. 21 Hawai’i Hilo moved to 5-1-0 (0-0-0 Pacific West Conference) while Cal Poly Humboldt moved to a 1-3-2 record (0-0-0 California Collegiate Athletic Association).

The Vulcans return to Hawai’i and will begin PacWest Conference play next Saturday on O’ahu against HPU at Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Next home game will be Oct. 1 against Academy of Art to start a four-game homestand.

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’s golf opens fall slate

Hawai’i Hilo women’s golf was back in action as it teed off the fall season this past weekend at Saint Martin’s Grisham Memorial Shootout at The Home Course.

Reigning Pacific West Conference Champion Kiersten Saludares led the Vulcans with a 12-plus score for a No. 33 placement in the two-round season opener. The junior was one of five golfers to hit a 76 in Round 2.

Trinity Ledgerwood and Elle Otani followed with tied placements at No. 44 and No. 48, respectively. Newcomers Carissa Koki and Erica Yokomoto rounded out the Vulcans lineup.

Simon Fraser totaled just nine shots over to claim the victory.

UBC Okanagan’s Julia Alexander Carew took the top individual spot with a minus-four finish on round scores of 71 and 69.

Hawai’i Hilo already travelled further up the globe and across international borders this week to Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada for the True North Classic hosted by Simon Fraser at the Riverway Golf Club.

XC runs at Chaminade Invitational

Five Vulcans placed in the top 10 as Hawai’i Hilo women’s cross country claimed its first team victory in four seasons with a win at Saturday morning’s Chaminade Invitational at Kapi’olani Park on O’ahu.

Isabel Raymond led the way with a 21-minute finish in the 5k race, landing at No. 3 overall. Summer Corke and Megan Donovan followed shortly behind in order with Maggi Morrell and Kaia Spiess coming in at No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Despite Chaminade’s Maria Steinke and Nikiji Dayse occupying the top two spots, Hawai’i Hilo tallied 29 points to take the team victory — the first since a head-to-head matchup with HPU during the spring 2021 season. Prior to that, the last victory was 17 years ago when the Vulcans repeated as back-to-back champs at the 2007 Pacific West Conference Championships.

Hawai’i Hilo will have another week off from competition before hosting its lone home event of the season at 7 a.m. Oct. 5 at the Grand Naniloa Resort Banyans Golf Course.