HILO, Hawai`i—Crystal Sanchez had two assists, helping the Vulcans score once in each half to defeat visiting Fresno Pacific 2-0 in women's soccer action on Saturday night at the UHH Soccer Field.

Sanchez sent a cross and a corner kick to the opportunistic Brenna Rill and Camille Strazzo, and the UH Hilo defense and goalkeeper Bailey Cahill did the rest. The Vulcans improved to 2-1-1 in the Pacific West Conference and to 3-4-3 overall. Fresno Pacific is now 1-2-2 in the PacWest and 1-8-2 on the year.

The Vulcans got on the scoreboard before everyone had settled into their lawn chairs. From the left side of the field, Sanchez sent a perfect cross through a trio of Sunbird defenders to a crashing Rill. Rill caught the ball right in front of the net and flicked it in just barely three minutes into the match (3:05).

That 1-0 lead held through the half despite decent scoring opportunities for both teams. The Vulcans controlled the first 23 minutes with five shots, including four on goal, while allowing just one FPU opportunity.  But the Sunbirds were on the offensive after that, spending lots of time on the Vulcan end of the field.

At the half, the Sunbirds had almost evened the shot stats, with seven attempts, two of them on goal. The Vulcans had eight shots, four on goal.

Both teams came out aggressive in the second half. The Vulcans had a pair of golden opportunities first. Nanea Wall, the former Konawaena High School standout, who was playing against her sister Nalani Wall, fired a shot from the middle of a scrum of players that Sunbird goalkeeper Hannah Hathaway made a brilliant save on.

At 62:33, a Vulcan player was taken down in the box, setting up a penalty kick. Jodi Lillie calmly knocked the free shot in, but the goal was waved off by the official who said another Vulcan player was in the box before she kicked.

UH Hilo finally cashed in a 75:52 on a corner kick. Sanchez sent a pass from the left side of the field over everyone, to a waiting Camille Strazzo who took the pass and headed it into the goal from the right side. That gave the Vulcans huge insurance and their defense hung on and did the rest.

The Vulcans would have one more goal waved off late in the contest because of a UHH penalty.

UH Hilo finished with 15 shots (eight on goal), while FPU had 13, six of them saves by Cahill. It was the fifth scoreless sheet for Cahill in 2019.

The Vulcans will now head out on the road for four matches in southern California, beginning with a Oct. 26 match at Biola.