The Rainbow Wahine soccer team is spending much of their spring training working on team defense and last night received good practice from Virginia.

Virginia beat Hawai'i, 2-0, in an exhibition game last night at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium in front of 682 fans.

"All in all, I'm very happy," Tenzing said. "Now they know they can play and run with the elite. (Virginia) is truly an elite team."

Virginia, which outshot Hawai'i 11-3, plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC features teams such as national champion North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson, Wake Forest and Boston College, all schools that were ranked in the final poll of the Soccer Buzz Top 30. Virginia was ranked No. 21 by Soccer Buzz and 18th in the NSCAA/adidas poll.

Junior midfielder Julia Falk scored in the 15th minute on a cross from the left side by senior midfielder Shannon Foley.

A pair of all-Region players teamed up for the Cavaliers' second goal in the 75th minute. Sophomore forward Jess Rostedt scored on an assist from junior defender Becky Sauerbrunn, whose 25-yard pass through the middle of the field was placed perfectly for Rostedt to run on to, control it, make a move on UH goalkeeper Kori Lu, and shoot into the open goal.

Virginia coach Steve Swanson said "we weren't as sharp as we needed to be today. It's pretty early for us, to be fair. We weren't sharp offensively, and we turned the ball over. It's a credit to Hawai'i's defense."

Tenzing said he was happy with the ability of the Rainbow Wahine to make adjustments in the second half, which he credited to the team's "maturity."

He said Hawai'i allowed Virginia too much freedom to pass around in the back in the first half, and in the second half they placed "selective pressure" and shut that down.

Hawai'i captain Jessica Domingo agreed, saying, "we played better in the second half. We had more opportunities. I think in the first half we were a little intimidated by their ranking."

Because it is so early in the offseason, Domingo said the team is "out of shape and we can't do high-pressure defense all over the field."

Tenzing wants to work on composure in the middle of the field and "firming up the defense," but as this is Hawai'i's first week of playing on a full field after playing small-sided games early in this spring training, he said "we have all our dots in line."

Hawai'i's best chance of the first half was on a shot by sophomore midfielder Kelli-Anne Chang when she intercepted an attempted Cavaliers clear inside the 18-yard box with less than a minute in the half, but her shot hit the outside right netting.

The Rainbow Wahine experienced a scare when on the opening play of the second half when all-conference defender Koren Takeyama went down with an injury, but she walked off the field. Takeyama did not reenter the game, and was seen after the game with a heavy brace on her knee. Hawai'i is already playing without starting defender Lehua Wood, who injured her knee last season.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.