HONOLULU — Breakthrough goals for two University of Hawai'i midfielders powered the Rainbow Wahine soccer team to a 2-1 victory over CSUN to open the Big West schedule on Thursday at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
 
UH freshman midfielder Izzy Ayala opened the scoring in the 34^th minute and senior Nohara Takayama fired a long-distance goal just over 5 minutes later and the 'Bows (2-2-2, 1-0-0 Big West) held off the Matadors (0-8-1, 0-1-0) in the second half to earn the win to start conference play.
 
"I thought that was a pretty gritty win," UH coach Michele Nagamine said. "I thought it was a very good game for us to get started. We've been off for a little bit and for it to come against a team like CSUN that's hungry — they give people fits because they've got athleticism, they have pace, and they have a lot of grit as well — I thought it was a great game."
 
Coming off an 11-day break between matches, the Rainbow Wahine took 21 shots, putting 11 on goal, to the Matadors' eight (four on goal) with Ayala and Takayama scoring the first goals of their UH careers.
 
Ayala has started the first five matches of her freshman season and became the fifth UH player to record a goal this season off an assist from Krista Peterson. Brynn Mitchell took a corner kick and Peterson's header found an open Ayala, whose shot into the right corner eluded the grasp of the CSUN goalkeeper and rolled into the net.
 
Takayama added to the lead when she took a shot from well behind the box and fired it into the upper left corner for her first UH in her 20^th UH match since joining the program last season.
 
CSUN cut into the lead in the 59^th minute when Ashly Torres scored the Matadors' second goal of the season. But the UH defense held off CSUN the rest of the way to seal the win and UH goalkeeper Sophie Augustin finished with three saves.
 
The Rainbow Wahine embark on their second road trip of the season next week and play at Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 21 and at UC Riverside on Sept. 24.