HONOLULU – The Hawai'i women's soccer team got off to a strong start but was unable to hold off a second-half surge, falling 3-1 to Kansas State on day two of the OUTRIGGER Soccer Kickoff Saturday at the UH Lower Campus Field.
On a windy and wet afternoon,
Anuhea Aluli opened the scoring for the Rainbow Wahine (0-2-0) less than four minutes into the match, but the Wildcats (2-0-0) responded with three unanswered goals to spoil UH's weekend finale.
Hawai'i struck quickly in the fourth minute when Aluli gathered a pass from freshman
Jas Cayetano and slotted it past K-State keeper Maddie Sibbing to make it 1-0. The early tally marked Aluli's first goal in a Rainbow Wahine uniform. The Bows kept up the offensive pressure early on, with
Piper Bertani sending a shot high in the 15th minute and
Jas Cayetano having a shot wide right in the 21st.
However, Kansas State eventually found the equalizer in the 28th minute when Gabby DeMers found the back of the net off an assist from Chloe Dillbeck.
The Wildcats took control immediately following the halftime intermission. Just 82 seconds into the second half, KSU's Anna Pagano scored off a feed from McKinnan Braswell to put the Wildcats ahead for good, 2-1. Kansas State then extended its lead to 3-1 in the 52nd minute when Allison Marshall scored an unassisted goal.
The Rainbow Wahine will look to bounce back when they continue their seven-match on-campus homestand by hosting Western Michigan on Thursday at 4 p.m. HT to kick off the OUTRIGGER Invitational.
