HILO, Hawai'i – With the pressure mode set to high all match-long, Hawai'i Hilo Women's Soccer netted a pair of goals for a 2-0 victory in the Vulcans' home opener Thursday afternoon against Western Oregon.

Hawai'i Hilo out shot WOU, 18-2, with an 11-1 shots-on-goal advantage.

The Vulcans got on the scoreboard early into the match with Filippa Graneld's first goal of the season coming off an olimpico from the corner in the seventh minute. The fifth-year senior launched the corner-kick opportunity from the left pocket and curled it in high and tight around the near post, off the goalkeeper and in for the score.

The lead held up through the next 30-plus minutes of play until Teani Arakawa showcased her sharpshooting skills with a top-right laser from 25 yards out to add on and make it a 2-0 game.

Western Oregon was not only kept out of the scorers column, but also in the shots tally in the second half with zero recorded attempts. Both teams made goalkeeper changes at halftime as Kaytlin Blair made her debut for the Vulcans, coming in to close out the combined team shutout with Phoebe Barnes.

The Wolves' Sophia Pierce and Isabella Lopez combined for nine saves with the latter managing to post a clean sheet for the second half.

UP NEXT

Hawai'i Hilo moved to 2-0-2 (0-0-0 Pacific West Conference) as Western Oregon moved to a 0-2-3 record (0-0-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).

The Vulcans will hop over to O'ahu for a non-conference tilt at Chaminade this Saturday, Sept. 21, before returning to Honolulu a week later to open PacWest Conference play against HPU (Sept. 28) at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Next home match is set for Tuesday, Oct. 1 against Academy of Art.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE WEST

In the second United Soccer Coaches Division II Rankings released this past Tuesday, Hawai'i Hilo moved up one spot to No. 7 in the West Region.

Last week, the Vulcans took down then-eighth-ranked Seattle Pacific, who did not appear in the latest top 25 poll. Hawai'i Hilo did not appear as one of the teams outside of the top 25 listed for receiving votes.

ALL-TIME BEST

In Hawai'i Hilo's victory over Seattle Pacific last week, Arakawa netted three goals and an assist to become the Vulcans' new all-time career leader in points — surpassing 53 points set by Kristine Pasek (Stancil) (11-14). The Maui native joined the Vulcans in fall of 2022 as a sophomore transfer and now carries career totals of 22 goals and 12 assists.