SEASIDE, California – No. 21 Hawai'i Hilo Men's Soccer pulled the rabbit out of the hat with back-to-back scores late in the waning minutes to complete an epic comeback in a 3-2 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay Thursday evening at Cardinale Stadium.
After a tied 1-1 score through halftime, CSUMB managed to squeak ahead with a 74th-minute score on Alexis Sanchez's 22-yard clean up off a corner-kick second ball. The Otters kept the pressure on and managed a few near-score opportunities, including a leaping tip-out for one of Vulcans goalkeeper Paul Waschkau's seven saves.
Hawai'i Hilo settled in and after drawing a foul just inches outside the penalty area coming off a corner-kick play, Colby Lee lobbed the free kick up and over as Koki Hamada thundered his way through the crowd to head the equalizer in.
On the ensuing kick-off, Monterey Bay nearly answered but Hamada made a sliding stop to initiate the counter-attack. Lukas Stark, who had just entered into the game, found himself racing down toward the right corner and sent a cross in with Kanata Taira's soft touch setting up Brian Trujillo to blast through the game winner.
Waschkau made another diving stop in the final minutes to close up the victory in his Vulcans debut in goal.
Earlier in the match, Hawai'i Hilo got the first equalizer just before the end of the first half with Shudai Ito bending in a 30-yard free kick through the right side.
UP NEXT
Hawai'i Hilo moved to 4-1-0 (0-0-0 PacWest) while Cal State Monterey Bay moved to 2-1-1 (0-0-0 California Collegiate Athletic Association).
The Vulcans will finish up their three-game road trip with a matchup against Cal Poly Humboldt this Saturday, Sept. 21, at Chabot College Soccer Field in Hayward, California.
Next home game will be the PacWest Conference opener against Academy of Art on Oct. 1.
AMONG THE BEST
Hawai'i Hilo Men's Soccer landed its first-ever national ranking, coming in at No. 21 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II Top 25 Week 2 Poll released this past Tuesday.
The Vulcans also moved up to two spots to No. 3 in the latest West Region poll.