Hawai'i beats Fresno State in home finale
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i women's soccer team appears to be peaking at just the right time.
The Wahine defeated Fresno State, 3-1, last night, and head into the Western Athletic Conference Tournament on a three-match winning streak in WAC play.
A crowd of 1,003 saw Hawai'i's final match of the regular season at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park.
Hawai'i scored first on a goal by Jennifer Starsiak off an assist by Veronica Flores at 17:13. The ball deflected to Starsiak in front of the penalty box and she put it past goal keeper Mary-Tyler Wahl.
The Wahine's second goal was a bit of a fluke. Joelle Sugai received a pass from Krystalynn Ontai and her attempted cross from 30 yards went into the goal at 25:41.
"I was trying to cross it," Sugai said. "I said, 'Oh my God it went in.' "
Fresno State's Erin Sayegusa, a 2000 Kaiser High graduate, scored at 63:36 off an assist from Kristyn Kellogg to make the score 2-1.
Hawai'i added an insurance goal at 89:00 on a great individual effort by Carmel Hurley. She took the ball near midfield, streaked by three defenders and put a shot under Wahl.
"I just wanted to put one away because my teammates kept passing me the ball and I felt like I was letting them down," Hurley said.
If Tulsa beats Boise State today, Hawai'i (8-9, 5-3) would finish in second place and earn a first-round bye at the WAC Tournament, Nov. 8-10 at Dallas.
If Boise State wins, tie-breakers could still give Hawai'i the No. 2 seed behind SMU. The third through sixth teams will play first-round matches.
"I told the team all season long, they're a really terrific team and we can win games," Hawai'i coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "We've been doing this all season long where we play brilliant soccer, control possession, play in their half of the field."
The Bulldogs outshot the Wahine, 22-16, but couldn't convert their opportunities.
"We outshot Hawai'i today, but if you can't stick it in the back of the net it doesn't make a difference," Fresno State coach Stacy Welp said.
It was the final home match for Wahine seniors Hurley, Starsiak, Flores and Erin Schremser.
"I feel happy for them," Tenzing said. "Ordinarily I would play them for the entire 90 minutes, but I couldn't afford to do that today."
Fresno State, which will also compete in the WAC Tournament, fell to 7-9 and 4-4.
The Advertiser's Leila Wai contributed to this report.
