BELLINGHAM, Wash.—There is the improbable, and then there is the flat out near impossible.

The Hawai`i Hilo men may have accomplished the latter in most eyes, upsetting No. 24 nationally ranked Western Washington 1-0 on Tuesday night under the lights at Harrington Field. Despite getting outshot 29-3, the Vulcans netted the only goal of the night when Matt Wilkinson took a cross from Alen Acosta and flicked in the game winner at 62:09.

That makes the Vulcans 1-0 in the second Paul Regrutto era, while Western Washington, who was ranked No. 13 last week before losing to Azusa Pacific on Saturday, is now 3-2.

"This is a good indicator that we are trying to do the right things," Regrutto said after the match. "The guys have bought in to what we have been trying to do. They worked really hard tonight.
WWU is a good team, they are going to win a lot of matches this year." 

It was a match-up of two programs in completely different places. The Vikings are nationally ranked and a perennial contender in the soccer-strong Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). The Vulcans had won a total of three matches in the last two years coming into tonight, the first match for Regrutto since he led the very first Vulcan team in 2006.

"I  don't think I have ever been a part of a match where a team was outshot 29-3 and still won," Regrutto added. "Maybe 15-4, but 29-3 is pretty crazy. We made adjustments. We had a couple players go down with cramps and had to play some guys out of position and we adapted."

UH Hilo's defense weathered the Viking offensive storm on a cool night on the turf in northwest Washington. WWU had 12 shots in the first half and 17 in the second 45 minutes, but only six of them were on goal. Those six were saved by Vulcan keeper Nick Williams, a few of them from very close range.

Meanwhile, UH Hilo could manage only one shot in the first half, by Pedro Werneck, which was punched over the top of the bar by Viking goalkeeper Brandon Wolter. Wikinson, a transfer from Santa Barbara CC by way of England, had both shots in the second half, obviously making one of them count the most. On that score, Acosta dribbled past midfield made the pass to the 6-2 Wilkinson, who turned and pushed the shot by Wolter.

Wolter had two saves in taking the loss, while Williams records the first shutout of his Vulcan career. The Vikings had 11 corner kicks to UH Hilo's two.

"Having not played yet this year, the first ten minutes we had deer in the headlights," Regrutto recalled. "We had the luxury of knowing them (from film) and they knew nothing about us. They struggled to find a way to break us down. We made a lot of game saving tackles and just didn't give them a clear shot at anything.

The Vulcans will try and keep the momentum going on Thursday in Lacey, Wash., taking on Saint Martin's. Start time is 3 p.m., Pacific time.

"We still have so much to improve on," he summized. "Our next test will to see if we can recover physically and be ready for St. Martin's on Thursday."