Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans Athletics

(photo of Alyssa Padron taken by Joe Poellot/story by Russ Blunck)

HILO, Hawai`i--One down, one to go.

The UH Hilo women's soccer team's quest for their first-ever conference title and NCAA playoff berth took another step forward with a 5-1 win over Hawai`i Pacific on Thursday afternoon at George and Marion Hall Stadium.

The Vulcans, 8-1 in the PacWest and 11-3 overall, now need to defeat Chaminade on Saturday (noon) to secure a tie in the standings with Point Loma, who wrapped up their regular season today with a 5-0 win over Concordia. Should both the Vulcans and Sea Lions end the year with 9-1 marks, the Vulcans win the tiebreaker and automatic NCAA berth by virtue of its win over PLNU.

It had been 15 days since UH Hilo's last match (the win over Point Loma), with a forced 11 days or so of no practice (COVID protocol) for the Vulcan women, giving head coach Gene Okamura anxiety heading into the match. Add in a warm and sunny 81 degree day to the challenge. 

But the Vulcans scored three times in a two-minute span early in the second half to allow Okamura to breathe easier and empty his bench a bit. Alyssa Padron scored two of those goals and the Vulcans also got scoring shots from Kayla Kunihisa. Filippa Graneld and Daelenn Tokunaga to secure the match and give UHH a shot at making school history.

"I was proud of the way we battled all day, but especially in the second half," Okamura said. "This was new territory for us, losing that much practice time in the middle of the season, but we handled it as well as could be expected."

The home team went to work right away, scoring four and a half minutes into the match. Kunihisa took a pass from Padron and headed it into the goal to give the Vulcans a 1-0 lead. UH Hilo had other scoring opportunities in the first half, including solid shots byTokunaga and Padron that were saved by Sharks keeper Madi DePhillips.The 1-0 score stayed on the board through intermission.

Then it got very interesting in the second half. 

Just three and a half minutes in, the Sharks tied the match to really get Okamura's blood pressure up. Off a corner kick, with a mob of bodies in front of Vulcan goalkeeper Viviana Poli, HPU's Marcella Chan tapped in a shot from three feet away to make the score 1-1. "I was a little bit nervous at that point," Okamura admitted. "But I know that we have the fire power to be able to create and put away opportunities."

His team then proved him correct. The Vulcans wasted literally (almost) no time retaking the lead. Graneld scored the go-ahead goal after taking a pass from Tokunaga, who was down near the end line. Graneld, at the top of the box, spun and flicked a shot past DePhillips to make the count 2-1. 

Moments later, Padron took a pass from Kunihisa, snapping it on the fly (left foot) into the goal to push the lead to 3-1. Literally a minute later, Padron scored again after a give and go with Graneld to give the Vulcans all the cushion that they would need.

The PacWest's leading scorer Tokunaga added one more tally with less than two minutes to go to account for the final score of 5-1. Tokunaga now has 13 goals and four assists on the season (30 points), just one shy of the school record 14 goals by Adele Litro and Megan Pachecano, and three points shy (33) of Litro's school record for points.

Padron finished with two goals and a assist, while Graneld, Tokunaga and Kunihisa each had a goal and an assist. The Vulcans had 20 shots, including 13 on goal, to the Sharks' three shots (one on goal). HPU finishes its season at 4-5-1 in the PacWest and 4-10-1 overall.

"I think HPU's goal woke our team up and after we scored our second goal, our confidence rose," UHH's head coach added. "Being able to clear the bench soon after that was big time for us to help keep us fresh for Saturday. 

"Everything we have worked hard for is in front of us now. We can control our own destiny. You can't ask for anymore than that."