Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
University of Hawaii at Hilo director of soccer Lance Thompson is used to the grind by now, but he found Wednesday’s men’s and women’s doubleheader in San Francisco particularly exhausting.
“Both games were identical,” Thompson said. “In both games we had breakaways to put it away and both games we just didn’t make it.”
There was one big difference in the matches, however — San Francisco State’s Sam Merritt scored early in the first overtime to send the Vulcan men to a 1-0 defeat, the only goal recorded during more than 200 minutes of nonconference college soccer.
The 0-0 draw for the Lady Vulcans (5-3-5) keeps them winless in five matches, a span that includes three ties.
“The competition is getting tougher,” Thompson said. “The other way to look at it is we’ve only lost twice against good teams.”
According to the statistics kept by the home team, the Vulcans were badly outshot twice (21-7 in the men’s game and 21-9 for the ladies), but Thompson said those numbers weren’t indicative of how the matches were played.
The Lady Gators (7-6-2) managed a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks, but Vulcans goalkeeper Kayla Clarke stopped all five shot she faced.
Kicking off a three-match Northern California road trip, Thompson said the Vulcans didn’t arrive at their hotel until 2 a.m. Wednesday after their flight was delayed.
“I thought it was a great effort by both teams, especially considering the outside factors,” he said. “Defensively, we were sound in both matches.”
His only regret was the men’s team couldn’t register a point, falling to 5-7-1. Thompson said the winner for San Francisco State (7-6-2) came on a looping header from 10 yards out. James Aguirre assisted on Merritt’s third goal of the season with a cross.
“It was the same kind of ball that San Francisco State almost scored on in the women’s game,” Thompson said.
The Vulcans won’t have much time to rest. They step back into Pacific West Conference play Thursday against Holy Names in Hayward, then face Dominican in San Rafael on Saturday.