SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Behind a pair of second-half goals and a dominant all-around performance, the Hawai'i soccer team got back in the win column with a 2-0 victory at Sacramento State in nonconference action Thursday.
 
Tatum Porter continued her recent stretch of strong play recording a goal and an assist to give her seven points in the last three matches, while the UH back line and goalkeepers Kennedy Justin and Brianna Chirpich combined for the second clean sheet of the season.
 
UH out-shot the Hornets 24-14, including a 13-3 advantage in shots on goal, earning its first multi-goal road win since a 2-0 victory at Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 5, 2023.
 
After having chance after chance throughout the first 50-plus minutes of the match and coming up empty, the Rainbow Wahine finally broke through in the 57th minute. Riley Simpson headed in a Porter corner kick for her first career goal to put UH in front 1-0.
 
Then just a minute later, Porter broke through on her eighth shot attempt of the match with a long-range strike off an Izzy Ayala feed to make it 2-0 in the 58th minute, where the match would remain for the final 32 minutes.
 
The Rainbow Wahine came out on the attack in the first half, owning a 12-2 advantage in shot attempts in the opening 45 minutes despite not coming away with a goal. Six of the shots came on frame while Tatum Porter led the way with six shots, two of them on goal.
 
UH's best chance to take a first-half lead came in the final minute of the half when Cate Sheahan came up with a deflected pass in the attacking third to give her a one-on-one opportunity. Sheahan beat the Hornet keeper but saw her shot attempt hit the left post, keeping the match scoreless heading into the break.
 
Porter finished the match with a career-high eight shot attempts while her seven points are the most in a three-match stretch by a Hawai'i player since October 2017 when Raisa Strom-Okimoto had 11 points in back-to-back matches. Ayala recorded a point for the second consecutive match with her second assist of the season while Simpson became the eighth different Rainbow Wahine player to score a goal this season.
 
The Rainbow Wahine head down to Moraga, Calif. to close out their Northern California road trip with a matchup at Saint Mary's Sunday at 9 a.m. HT.