Chaminade knocked off perennial PacWest power Point Loma and found themselves in first place—for a few hours at least. They are the Team of the Week. Fresno Pacific's Cadence Cunha came off the bench and scored twice to lead her team and new coach (but familiar face) to a win and is the Player of the Week, and Hawai'i Hilo's Phoebe Barnes posted a shutout with four saves to garner Defender of the Week.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fresno Pacific's Cadence Cunha, MF, Fr., 5-6, Clovis, Calif.
Cadence Cunha helped Fresno Pacific to its first conference victory of the season, coming off the bench and scoring a pair of goals in a 2-1 win over Academy of Art. In doing so, she gave interim head coach Jaime Ramirez the win in his first outing (this year). Ramirez is also the coach of the FPU men's team and was the longtime coach of both Sunbird teams (last coached the women in 2021). Cunha tied the match on a header in the 50th minute and scored again less than two minutes later with a rocket down the middle. The scores were the first two of her career for the freshman from nearby Clovis.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Hawai'i Hilo's Phoebe Barnes, GK, Jr., 5-10, La Crescenta, Calif.
Hawai'i Hilo stayed unbeaten with a 2-0 home victory over Biola in the only shutout of the week. Phoebe Barnes helped provide the blank sheet, directing the defense and saving four Eagle shots that were on goal. The former Sonoma State starter has a 0.46 goals against average on the season and 21 total saves. She has a 9-0-1 record in the goal. Barnes was picked as the PacWest Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Chaminade Silverswords
Chaminade had their biggest win of the season during a 2-1 home victory over Point Loma, and for a few hours found themselves on top of a talented PacWest heap with a 4-0-1 conference record (Hawaii Hilo regained the lead later the same day with a win over Biola to improve to 5-0). Haley Mo`okini had a goal and an assist in the win, which also improved the 'Swords overall record to 6-2-3. Naomi Takata gave up one goal and had five saves. Chaminade has not lost in their last five outings and have wins in four of those contests, with a 1-1 tie on their ledger against Hawaii Pacific earlier this week included.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: In just her second start of the season, Academy of Art's Alicia Calderon had 10 saves during a 2-2 tie with Fresno Pacific…HPU's Madi DePhillips had five saves and gave up one goal in the Sharks 1-1 tie with Chaminade…Hawai'i Hilo's Megan Donovan, last week's PacWest Player of the Week, scored twice in the first half of UHH's 2-0 win over Biola. She played a total of 49 minutes in the match and now has eight goals on the season, second in the conference behind teammate Teani Arakawa, who has nine…4-0 Concordia was idle last week…APU's Maddie Williams had six saves in the Cougars' 2-2 tie with Westmont…Four teams are still unbeaten in PacWest play—Hawaii Hilo (5-0), Chaminade (4-0-1), Concordia (4-0) and Westmont (2-0-1). Point Loma is next at 2-2…Hawaii Hilo has outscored their opponents this year 32-4, while Concordia has used defense to run up a 21-1 Goals For/Against mark. The Golden Eagles haven't been scored upon since the first match of the season, a 1-0 loss to CS Los Angeles ... Hawaii Hilo is No. 5 in today's national poll with Concordia checking in at No. 12.
LOOKING AHEAD: As we head into the second half of PacWest play, Point Loma, Biola and Westmont continue action in Hawai'i while Concordia travels to Azusa during the first part of the week. On Saturday, there's more games between SoCal teams and the Hawaii schools, while Academy of Art travels to Dominican and Fresno Pacific is at Concordia.
