Dallas goal for ex-Hawai'i prep players
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Penn State University
Each day last summer, when they concluded their workouts on O'ahu, Kenji Treschuk and Duke Hashimoto would say to each other:
Kenji Treschuk is an outside defender for Penn State.
"I'll see you in Dallas."
The reference was to soccer's NCAA Men's College Cup, where the final four teams in Division I will kick it for the national championship Dec. 13 and 15.
On Monday, Treschuk's Penn State Nittany Lions and Hashimoto's Southern Methodist Mustangs were awarded a free pass through the first round of the national tournament, meaning they are only three victories from seeing each other in Dallas.
Hashimoto, the state high-school Player of the Year last season at Iolani, has been a freshman phenom at seventh-ranked SMU. He was named to the All-Rookie team in the Missouri Valley Conference and his coach calls him "our most consistent scoring threat."
Treschuk, a sophomore outside defender, is living his lifelong dream of "having a shot at winning the Division I championship and being a major part of this team."
Valdimir Cherry • SMU
He made the assist on Friday that led to the tying goal that ultimately led to a penalty-kick upset of defending national champion and then third-ranked Indiana in the Big Ten tournament.
Duke Hashimoto is a striker for Southern Methodist.
Treschuk also started as a freshman and "has been able to avoid the sophomore blahs that hit a lot of times," Penn State coach Barry Gorman said. Treschuk says he is "getting back" from a separated right shoulder that kept him out of four games and is proud of contributing to Penn State's five-game win streak, 14-7 record, Big Ten championship and its newly earned No. 15 ranking.
SMU coach Schellas Hyndman said Hashimoto has "played with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm from Day 1. He's very urgent, that is, he wants to get things done."
SMU is 15-2-3 and Hashimoto has started 17 games at striker, scoring 13 points on four goals and five assists. He is fourth in scoring and second on the team in shots taken with 30 — half of them on-goal — but most of his points came in preseason.
"We are scouted so well that Missouri Valley Conference teams have started putting their better defenders on him, making it more difficult for him," Hyndman said.
Hashimoto said he is 5 feet 6 1/2 and the opponents marking him "are all taller than me ... some are a lot taller than me."
Little, and young. Duke is younger than many high school seniors. His 18th birthday will be on Dec. 15 — the day of the national championship game.
The final four will be played in SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium, where the Mustangs have not lost since 1999.
Treschuk and Hashimoto chatted over the Internet Monday night about the playoffs, ending the conversation, "I'll see you in Dallas."
• Correction: Loyola Marymount soccer goalkeeper Adam Sthay graduated from Punahou in 1999. An incorrect year was reported in a story posted last week.
