(photo of Camille Strazzo taken by Billi Derleth/Story by Russ Blunck)

SEATTLE, Wash.--On a 46-degree, gun metal gray day in Seattle, No. 4 seed Sonoma State topped No. 5 Hawai`i Hilo 5-1 in the First Round of the NCAA Division II West Region Women's Soccer tournament.

The Vulcans nine-match winning streak comes to an end, as does their impressive banner season at 12-4. Their first-ever postseason appearance wasn't what they hoped it would be on a rainy day, falling to the two-time defending CCAA champions, who improved to 15-5 and will now face No. 1 seed and host Seattle Pacific on Saturday.

"It wasn't our best day obviously," Vulcan head coach Gene Okamura said after the match. "Sonoma State is very good squad. I wish that we could have played better but it was still a great season. We will learn from this and come back stronger."

Sonoma State started fast and furious, firing five shots in the first 15 minutes. They finally found the back of the net in the 16th minute when Alyssa Silva took a long pass and headed the ball into the goal to put the Seawolves on the board first. Eleven minutes later, SSU added another counter when Victoria Chavez dropped a shot into the lower right corner of the goal, after the Vulcan defense got crossed up in a rare defensive mishap, making it 2-0.

It was almost 3-0 with just 11 seconds left in the half when Sonoma scored again, but the goal was waved off when the SSU player crashed into Vulcan goalkeeper Viviana Poli. Worse than a goal scored, Poli was injured on the play and would not return to the match. 

Thus, it was 2-0 at the break in a first half dominated by the Seawolves. They had 15 shots (four on goal) to just one shot for the Vulcans. 

After intermission, the Vulcans had a pair of good scoring opportunities a little over 12 minutes in. First, Daelenn Tokunaga dropped a pass inside to Filippa Graneld, but her shot was blocked. Moments later, Alyssa Padron had a header that just sailed over the crossbar.

Sonoma State then added big time insurance with a score in the 64th minute, again by Silva to make it 3-0. The rain began to come down heavier, adding to UHH's misery.

The Seawolves made it 4-0 seven minutes later on a score by Drew Swanson, her first of the season. In the 78th minute, Sonoma State went up 5-0 on Kaci Holliday's ball off a free kick.

UH Hilo avoided the shutout just 44 seconds later. Jodi Lillie belted a long free kick over the defense that was blocked SSU keeper Phoebe Barnes, but then picked up and tapped into the net by UHH's Padron.

The Vulcans had one more shot in the 86th minute by Christina Kanellou, but it flew high and right. In all, Sonoma State finished with 25 shots on the day, eight of them on goal. The Vulcans had six shots, four of them on goal--after just one total shot in the first half. SSU had nine corner kicks to UHH's two. 

Okamura's team's 12-4 mark is the best winning percentage in school history (75 percent), and their PacWest co-title and NCAA postseason berth were also program firsts.