Box Score

HONOLULU--Natasha Kai recorded her fourth hat trick of the season as Hawaii shutout Fresno State, 3-0, in a Western Athletic Conference match Friday night at the Waipio Peninisula Soccer Stadium. The Rainbow Wahine (12-4-1, 6-1 WAC) clinched at least a second-place finish in the WAC and a first-round bye in next month's conference tournament in Dallas.

UH won its fifth-straight match and tied a school-record with its 12th win of the year. The 1999 squad set the record for most wins in a season and finished 12-7-1. A second-place regular-season conference finish also makes Hawaii the host of next year's WAC Championships.

The Rainbow Wahine took advantage of two defensive miscues by Fresno State (6-7-2, 3-3 WAC) to take an early 2-0 lead. The first came just 2:28 into the game when Bulldog goalkeeper Jeannette Paine charged out of the box to defend a UH long ball. Paine, however, tapped the ball directly to a hard-charging Natasha Kai, who promptly put away an open-net goal from 20 yards out. A little more than 10 minutes later, Fresno State again fell victim to the aggressive Kai. As a Fresno State defender headed the ball back to Paine, the speedy sophomore intercepted the pass and slid a shot inside the left post for her second goal of the evening.

Kai capped the scoring in the 77th minute, by finishing off a beautiful combination play. Defender Liz Lusk sent a pass from midfield to near the top of the box where Kalena Eaton gathered the ball and flicked a through ball to Kai who scored from 10 yards out.

Fresno State out-shot UH 22-16 and had 11 shots on goal to Hawaii's 5. Mahie Atay recorded a season-high nine saves and UH registered its 10th shutout of the season and third straight. It was Atay's fifth solo shutout on the year, a new single-season school record.

Hawaii concludes the WAC regular season with a home match Sunday against San Jose State at 5 p.m.

-UH-