HONOLULU – The Hawai'i women's soccer team couldn't climb out of an early hole in a 3-1 loss to Western Michigan on Thursday in the OUTRIGGER Invitational at the UH Lower Campus Field.
The Rainbow Wahine fell behind 3-0 at halftime to the defending MAC champion Broncos, but put together a spirited second-half performance despite not being able to overcome the deficit.
Western Michigan jumped out to an early advantage, striking first in the sixth minute when Sophia Bowman found the bottom right corner of the net off a pass from Meredith Vance. The Broncos doubled their lead in the 20th minute on a strike from Tessa Fagerson before Irelyn Sheldon added a third goal at the 42:51 mark to give the visitors a commanding 3-0 lead at the break.
Despite the deficit, the Rainbow Wahine showed resilience on their home pitch, keeping their offensive pressure alive with early opportunities, including a fifth-minute shot on target by freshman midfielder
Jas Cayetano that was turned away.
Hawai'i broke through in the 56th minute when freshman forward
Olivia Dianda collected a pass from senior forward
Anuhea Aluli. Dianda got her shot past Bronco keeper Reagan Sulaver to trim the deficit to 3-1, marking her first career collegiate goal. The Wahine offense continued to knock on the door, matching the Broncos with 12 total shots each on the night, including a dangerous late effort by Aluli in the 84th minute that was saved by Sulaver.
Junior goalkeeper
Kennedy Justin recorded six saves, bringing her career total to 121 after entering the night in eighth place all-time at UH. Aluli registered five shots to pace the Hawai'i offense while Dianda fired off three attempts and
Izzy Ayala got off a pair of shots.
The Rainbow Wahine will be back in action when they host former WAC rival Idaho on Saturday, at 2:00 p.m. at the UH Lower Campus Field.
