The Vulcan's soccer team ended their season on a 5-1-1 run in impressive fashion with a 5-1 victory over the Urban Knights of Academy of Art University.  The match was played at The Forge (UHH Baseball Field) in front of a crowd of over 400 people.  Fans drove from as far as Kona and flew in from as far as California to witness the first ever Senior Night for the Vulcans. 
 
Five seniors - Vincent Muscarella, Josiah Motosue, Aaron Sanchez, Gerald Walsh III and Luis Romero - were honored before the game. Each took the time to thank the school, soccer program, coaches, and community for their contribution to their experiences at UH Hilo.
 
The seniors were quick to show their appreciation with Sanchez floating a free kick from 40 yards out into the path of Fuerte who settled and finished from 18 yards out with a left-footed slow roller to the near post. The Forge helped the ball past the Urban Knight's goalkeeper Ian Sutherland to give the Vulcans an early lead in the 3^rd minute.
 
Motosue threatened often with runs down the right flank getting off several crosses, and combining to create a few scoring opportunities early in the first half.
 
Muscarella showed poise on the ball holding the ball for midfielders to support and even executed a Schweinsteiger nutmeg before completing a cross.
 
Landon Salvador had a superb outing in a new position as a defensive midfielder.  He flew around the field with reckless abandon breaking up attacks before they were able to form and completing several key passes to forwards Muscarella, Rayden Bala and Jimbo Yamane.
 
Although the Vulcans created several chances in the first half they went into the intermission holding a 1-0 lead. The Urban Knights two chances were created by crosses that ended with a wide header and impressive but also off target bicycle kick.
 
The second half started similarly with the Vulcans having the bulk of the play. Muscarella capitalized in the 53^rd minute.  The play started with Muscarella throwing the ball into his dread-locks partner Phillip Sakaba deep in Urban Knights territory. Sakaba returned the ball to Muscarella near the sideline 12 yards out who then placed a perfectly bent cross into the upper left corner of the net.
 
Bala entered the match in the 63^rd minute and that's when the floodgates opened. It started with a breakaway goal in the 72^nd minute. After prancing gracefully past the Urban Knight's final line of defense, Bala struck a powerful mid-height shot to the right side of the goal.  He had obviously been working on his breakaway finishing with the coaching staff.  Shortly after the opponents put in their first goal of the evening on a corner kick, Bala scored two more in the last three minutes of the game.
 
After a mishandled ball by the Urban Knights defenders, Sakaba found himself alone on the right goal line and slotted the ball to Bala for an easy one touch finish.  One minute later Lane Lorenzo made his presence felt with an explosive dribble past four defenders until he finally left the ball for Sakaba in midfield. Sakaba then played a perfectly threaded through ball to a sprinting Bala who kept his composure and slotted the keeper low to the near post.
 
Several other chances were created in the second half including breakaways that Salvador played to Muscarella and Bala. Both chances were saved by the goalkeeper.
 
With 15 minutes remaining Romero and Walsh were inserted into the lineup and the combination of Walsh, Sanchez, Morgan Popp and Max Darris helped Romero secure a shutout for himself in the match.
 
“I was thrilled by the amount of energy provided by the community this evening,” UHH Head Coach Ziggy Korytoski said. “To be able to send out our five seniors on a night we will all remember speaks of how much they have done for our program in such a short amount of time.”
 
The Vulcans made history with the first ever night game, first ever hat trick (Bala), first ever triple assist (Sakaba) and first ever senior night.  They finished the season with 25 goals (18 better than 2011), 36 goals against (7 less than 2011), and 17 points (13 more than 2011).