BELMONT, Calif.—Naia Graham provided the game winner early in the second half and teammate Esteban Berumen added insurance with less than a minute to go, leading the host Notre Dame de Namur Argonauts to a 2-0 men's soccer victory over the University of Hawai`i Hilo on Monday afternoon at Koret Field.
The win was the third in a row for NDNU, improving their overall mark to 4-3 and to 2-0 in the Pacific West Conference. The Vulcans fell to 1-6 on the year and to 0-3 in the PWC.
UHH held a hot Argonaut squad out of the net in the first half, but Graham ended the shutout a few minutes after the break in the 52
nd minute. Two teammates got credit for assisting on the lone score (Robert Hines and Berumen). Berumen then scored at 89:07 on a header to account for the final tally.
The Vulcans played terrific defense against a team that had scored three goals in each of its last two matches. Goalkeeper
Joshua Jasper finished with three saves as the hosts fired 15 shots towards the net, six of them on goal.
The Vuls had a hard time getting any offense of their own going against the Argonauts' stingy defense. UHH had just one shot on the day, by
Jake Sagami early in the first half.
Hawai`i Hilo now returns home from its northern California trip to host a five-match home stand. That kicks off this coming Saturday against Hawai`i Pacific at 12:30 p.m. at Kamehameha School.