AZUSA, California – Teani Arakawa converted on a penalty kick score in the 80th minute to lead No. 19 Hawai’i Hilo women’s soccer past Azusa Pacific, 1-0, Monday evening in Pacific West Conference action at the Cougar Soccer Complex.
Arakawa was taken down inside the penalty area on a foul in the 80th minute, prompting the Vulcans’ all-time scorer (in goals and points) to convert on the direct-kick attempt from 12 yards out for the game-winner.
Phoebe Barnes recorded three saves and her 10th career shutout (as a Vulcan), moving into a tie at No. 2 for all-time in program history.
With the win, Hawai’i Hilo took the top spot in the PacWest Conference standings with 19 points.
The Vulcans outshot the Cougars at a 21-10 rate with 9-3 on goal.
Arakawa leads the PacWest in goals, game-winners and points (both overall and conference-only contests).
No. 19 Hawai’i Hilo moved to a 6-0-1 record in the PacWest (9-0-3 overall) as Azusa Pacific moved to a 3-3-0 conference record (7-3-1 overall).
The Vulcans continue through Southern California taking on Biola (Thursday) and Westmont (Saturday). Hawai’i Hilo will then return for a two-game home stand to close the regular season, hosting Fresno Pacific (Nov. 2) and Chaminade (Nov. 9).
The top four teams in the regular season standings will qualify for the inaugural PacWest Conference Championships set for Nov. 14-16 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.
In the United Soccer Coaches Division II Rankings released Tuesday morning, Hawai’i Hilo came in at No. 19 in the Top 25 Week 6 Poll, moving up four spots from the previous week.
The Vulcans also moved up one spot to No. 3 in the West Regional poll.
Trujillo punches men to victory
With the sun setting and time winding down on the game clock, Brian Trujillo put through the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute to help power Hawai’i Hilo men’s soccer past Azusa Pacific, 2-1, Monday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action in Azusa, Calif.
The Palmdale native assisted on the Vulcans’ earlier equalizing goal in the 58th minute and looked to set up the game-winner to Aidan Santos from 35 yards out, but his shot was blocked inside the box and sent right back to Trujillo to blast through from the top of the arc for the score.
“It was a sentimental moment to see the ball go in the back of the net. When I saw my whole family in the stands … once I saw them I knew I had to go celebrate with them and create a special moment,” Trujillo told Guava Press Media following the match. “I think it was a statement win to show we’re a team that doesn’t give up. We’re a team that can come out of a hole that we dug ourselves in.”
In the 10th minute, APU’s Kaleb Abara found Andrew Gomez racing down the left side as he circled back and managed to slot a shot through the top-right corner for the score.
Coming out of the half, the Vulcans applied the pressure to set themselves up to tie the game. Felix Drizinsky sent a cross in from the top right corner of the box as Trujillo controlled it on the far side and bounced it back in for Gen Takahashi to head in for the goal.
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 3-4 in the PacWest (8-5 overall) as Azusa Pacific moved to a 2-3-1 conference record (3-7-1 overall).
The Vulcans continue through Southern California taking on Biola (Thursday) and Westmont (Saturday). Hawai’i Hilo will return for a two-game home stand to close the regular season, hosting Fresno Pacific (Nov. 2) and Chaminade (Nov. 9).
The top four teams in the regular season standings will qualify for the inaugural PacWest Conference Championships set for Nov. 14-16 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. Newcomers Menlo, Vanguard and Jessup are in Year 2 of a three-year NAIA-NCAA transition period and are thus ineligible for postseason play.
Volleyball takes ‘Swords to five sets
The Vulcans took a business trip to O’ahu and took the 10th-ranked team down to the wire in splitting weekend matchups with a thrilling five-set defeat to Chaminade (16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 15-8) followed by a 3-1 victory over HPU (25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-22) in Pacific West Conference action in Honolulu.
In Saturday’s battle with the No. 10 Silverswords, Hawai’i Hilo responded to an opening-set loss to go up, 2-1, but Chaminade managed to rally back to take the final two frames.
“Chaminade is a really strong team this year and it was a good test to see where we are at this point. We know that we’re close to where we want to be, but there’s still a lot of things to clean up,” Vulcans head coach Chris Leonard said. “They’re a talented team and have the ability to score many different ways. We slowed down a number of them but ended up just not slowing down the middle attack. We did a lot of really good things but against better teams, we have to be cleaner.”
Chaminade’s hitters posted under .200 percentages but its middles each were over .500. The Silverswords also committed a season-high 22 service errors with the Vulcans keeping in check in surrendering just three aces.
Hawai’i Hilo had a quick turnaround to take on HPU Sunday afternoon after having just swept the Sharks this past Monday in the Vulcan Gymnasium.
HPU managed to string together a late eight-point run in Set 2 to temporarily even the match, but the Vulcans again proved to be too much as they took the last two frames.
“HPU took a set off of Chaminade the other day. Even though we got the sweep last time and their record isn’t great, they’ve been knocking on the door every time they play,” Leonard said.
Sophomore Chase Koepke posted a career-high 17 kills (.467) with four blocks. Isabella Freeman added seven kills (.417) with four blocks as well. Samara Cruz tallied 15 digs with 12 kills as Taylor Tullo racked up 15 kills with seven of them coming in the final set.
The Vulcans return for a four-game home stand hosting Concordia (Thursday), Point Loma (Saturday), Jessup (Oct. 30) and Fresno Pacific (Nov. 2). Oct. 24’s matchup with Concordia is Think Pink Night with fans encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Participating fans receive free entry. At the end of the month, fans are also encouraged to participate in our Halloween Costume Contest on Wednesday, Oct. 30, against Jessup.
Hawai’i Hilo and Chaminade will play again in the regular season finale on Nov. 23 in the Vulcan Gymnasium where it will also be Senior Night.
The No. 1 team in the standings at the end of the regular season will be crowned PacWest Conference Champion and earn one of three automatic qualifying bids for the eight-team NCAA West Regional.
Yamashita named PacWest Conference Player of the Week
In a return to his home territory, Katushiro Yamashita’s individual victory at last week’s Hawai’i Triangular on the west side of the island earned him Pacific West Conference Co-Player of the Week honors as announced Friday morning.
The Kailua-Kona native shot two-under at the Waikoloa Resort and Mauna Lani courses to lead the Vulcans in a victory over HPU and Chaminade.
“It sounds really simple but I was just thinking about getting threes and fours the entire round. Nothing five and above,” Yamashita said. “Starting the season with the Washington trip and just having a good time with the team-bonding experience, that definitely relieved the pressure a bit. I didn’t stress over every shot. I was pretty well aware I was in the lead, but I wasn’t really thinking about that the entire day like I used to. It was like go out there, have some fun swinging a golf club and see what happens.”
Yamashita shared the weekly honor with Menlo’s Jack Stark, who also took an individual win at the Vanguard Invitational.
Vulcans go head-to-head with UH this week
The 2024-25 basketball season tips off in one week’s time with the Hawai’i Hilo Vulcans hosting UH Manoa for exhibition contests next weekend.
The men’s squads will get the events started 7 p.m. Friday in Honolulu. The women’s teams will close 2 p.m. Sunday. Video live streaming for either game will not be available.
Both schools will be hosting a free keiki clinic Saturday afternoon at the Pana’ewa Park Gym — 2-3:15 p.m. for the boys; 3:30-4:45 p.m. for the girls. Spots are limited to the first 100 sign-ups for each clinic. Deadline to sign up is Friday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m.