After 71 minutes of scoreless soccer, nothing went right for Hawaii in its Big West opener. ADVERTISING After 71 minutes of scoreless soccer, nothing went right for Hawaii in its Big West opener. At this point, coach Michele Nagamine is
After 71 minutes of scoreless soccer, nothing went right for Hawaii in its Big West opener.
At this point, coach Michele Nagamine is just throwing her hands up in the air.
Amanda Ball, Jessica Parque and Mallory Hromatko scored in a 15-minute span of the second half Thursday night as UC Santa Barbara beat the Rainbow Wahine 3-0 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.
“I think we’re in our own head,” Nagamine said on OCSports. “We can’t get a rhythm going. We’ve had pretty much just the most unbelievable luck. It’s just one of those seasons. I think I’m going to get the team blessed.
“Seriously. One thing after another. We can’t catch a break.”
It all went awry for UH (3-7-1, 0-1) when it was called for a foul in the box when Ball was dragged down in the 72nd minute. She buried the penalty kick, and Parque tacked on a goal not eight minutes later on a give-an-go in which she sent a touch shot past UH goalkeeper Monk Berger.
“We were kind of shell-shocked in the first half, but came back and played really strong in the second half.
“Unfortunate PK, but that’s the way it goes, but it did change the momentum completely.”
Junior midfielder Storm Kenui’s was the Rainbow Wahine’s most active offensive player, taking five shots and putting two on frame.
Hromatko, a freshman, scored a point for the ninth time in her past 10 matches, netting her sixth goal of the season in the 87th minute.
At 5 p.m. Sunday, UH hosts Cal Poly (4-3-5, 0-1), which lost to Cal Davis 1-0 in double overtime in its league opener Thursday night.
