MEN'S SOCCER WEEKLY
UH Hilo Overall Record: 2-7                        UHH PacWest Record: 1-3

UH Hilo Returns Home to Face Two Teams of Eagles—Paiea Stadium, Keaau
Thursday, Oct. 11, 4:30 p.m. vs Concordia (4-6 overall \ 2-1 PacWest
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 4:30 p.m. vs. Biola (4-5-1 overall / 2-1 PacWest)
(Link to Live Stats for all matches available at www.hiloathletics.com)
 
Hilo Headlines: After playing seven of their last nine matches on the road, the UH Hilo men's soccer team will return home for four consecutive matches, beginning with bouts against Concordia and Biola. Last week, the Vulcans split matches on the road, defeating Academy of Art (1-0) and losing to Holy Names (1-0).

Think Pink: In collaboration with the NCAA, the Vulcans will honor the fight against breast cancer on Thursday night. All fans wearing pink will gain free admission. 

And Just Like That: The other two matches of the homestand will actually wrap up the 2018 home season. The Vulcans will host Hawai`i Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 20 (12:30 pm) at Paiea Stadium (Kamehameha School) and will have Senior Night on Tuesday, Oct. 23 against Point Loma with a 7:30 pm start time. The final match against Point Loma will be a men's only match (no doubleheader), as the UH Hilo women will play PLNU the night before (Oct. 22) at 7 pm.

On the Board: The Vulcans picked up their first Pacific West Conference victory of the season with the hard-fought win over the Urban Knights. The match looked to be headed to extra time before Matt Wilkinson scored in the 86^th minute to secure the stunning victory. UH Hilo's first three points in conference play (with the win) keeps them ahead of the Urban Knights in the standings.

Fiesty Futbol: The two matches in the bay area featured feisty teams that were hungry for wins. The match against the Urban Knights featured a total of four yellow cards and three red cards, to go with 20 fouls. The match with the Hawks saw five yellows issued and three more reds and a total of 23 fouls.

Shorthanded: Two red cards against Academy of Art and Matt Wilkinson's fifth yellow card of the season left the Vulcans three men down for the match with Holy Names. Nonetheless, The Vulcans outshot the Hawks 14-5, including shots on goal (5-2), but just couldn't get a ball into the net. They played with just 12 position players plus goalkeeper Nick Williams.

Busy Man: Speaking of senior goalkeeper Nick Williams…he picked up his second shutout of the season during the win over the Urban Knights, pocketing five more saves as well. He had 12 saves against St. Martin's on Sept. 13, tying the UH Hilo single-match record in that category, now shared with Paul Elias (2011 vs. Dixie State). He had ten more against Hawai`i Pacific (Sept. 20) and now has 52 on the season. That puts him seventh all-time for a single season, with seven matches still to be played this season. The single-season UH Hilo record for saves is shared by Yonha Andrabi (2012) and Marc Fournier (2006) with 67. Williams ranked 13^th in the NCAA with 6.38 saves per match.

By the Numbers: Junior transfer Matt Wilkinson (England/Santa Barbara CC) leads the Vulcans with five goals, three of them on penalty kicks. He has accomplished this on just seven total shots, six of them on goal. Fellow newcomers Bryan Gonzalez (Aurora, Colo./Otero JC), Pedro Werneck (Brazil/West Valley College) and Jorge Martinez (Madrid, Spain/Campbellsville U) also have scores, while Alen Acosta, Bradley Doyle and Christian Ohly have assists. Werneck leads the Vulcans with 19 shots on the season.

Eagles Times Two: The Vulcans will face the fifth and sixth place teams in the PacWest in the next week. The Concordia Eagles come to town on Thursday (Oct. 11), currently with a 2-1 conference mark and a 4-6 overall record. The Vulcans will have to watch Connor Gordon, who ranks first in the PacWest and sixth in the NCAA in goals with 1.22 per match. He has 11 goals on the season and 43 career goals.The Biola Eagles make their first-ever trip to Hilo on Tuesday (Oct. 16), with a 4-5-1 overall mark and 2-1 PacWest record. In their first meeting last year in La Mirada, the Eagles gained a 3-1 win.

Around the Loop: Azusa Pacific is now ranked 21^st nationally and leads the PacWest with a 3-0 record, 8-1-1 overall. Fresno Pacific is next at 3-0 and 7-1-1. The top six teams in the conference are at least 2-1 or better….Simon Fraser is the No. 1 team in NCAA D-II and in the west region. APU is fourth in the region, Fresno Pacific is No. 5 and Point Loma checks in at No. 10.

What's Next: After the four-match homestand, the Vulcans will wrap up the 2018 season with road excursions at Dominican (Oct. 29), Notre Dame de Namur (Nov. 1) and Fresno Pacific (Nov. 3).

An Opener to Remember: New leader Paul Regrutto won't soon forget his 2018 debut, when the Vulcans pulled off a 1-0 stunning upset of Western Washington in Bellingham. Despite being out-shot 29-3, UH Hilo scored the lone goal of the match on Matt Wilkinson's shot (Alen Acosta assist). The week previous, the Vikings were ranked No. 13 nationally. "I don't think that I have ever been a part of a match where a team was out-shot 29-3 and still won," Regrutto said afterwards. "We made a lot of game-saving tackles and just didn't give them a clear shot at anything."

The Coach: Paul Regrutto returns to Hawai`i Hilo, the same place that he began his coaching career in 2006. That inaugural Vulcan team finished 5-9-1. He spent the bulk of his coaching career at his alma mater, Colorado State-Pueblo, where he was the head women's coach from 2013-16. He had a 36-31-6 overall record for the Thunderwolves, including a 14-5-1 mark in 2016, leading CSU-Pueblo to their first-ever NCAA berth. He was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. He also served as an assistant coach at Cal State San Bernardino (2012), and from 2007-11 he was the lead assistant for the Thunderwolves men's program.