KEAAU — Winning is a priority in any college athletics program until something more important comes along. ADVERTISING KEAAU — Winning is a priority in any college athletics program until something more important comes along. That was the unfortunate reality
KEAAU — Winning is a priority in any college athletics program until something more important comes along.
That was the unfortunate reality UHH faced one of the better teams in the PacWest and pushed them to the edge before falling 2-0 in a controversial match that left the Vulcans hurting in more ways than one.
The game became secondary in the 79th minute when junior midfielder Astrid Perez was upended by 6-foot freshman Bailey Kroll, causing Perez to fall awkwardly and lay motionless on the field.
Perez was flat on her back, arms outstretched, when trainer Jasmine Gittens ran on the field seconds later, stretched out on her stomach and held her hands tightly under Perez’ neck as EMS was called. Twelve minutes later the ambulance arrived and Perez was fitted with a neck brace, a strap on her head and very carefully lifted on a board, strapped down and taken, presumably to a nearby hospital.
“We came together even more after that,” said junior forward Kayla Santiago, “despite the score, I feel we progressed.
“They were physical, they always play like that,” she said of Dixie State, “but what got us was how they disrespected us; they were taunting us all the game, laughing after (Perez) went down. I don’t feel that’s good sportsmanship, not at all, but that’s how they are.”
The Vulcans (0-4-3 in PacWest, 2-5-3 over all), appeared to be one strong scoring thrust away from pushing the Trailblazers (5-2-0, 7-5-0), to the edge until Alexis Torres got her second goal of the season in a wild scramble in front of the UHH goal, poking the ball past goalie Jenna Hufford.
UHH was pressing the attack when, in the 79th minute, Hufford was called for a foul as she went up to make a save and the officials awarded a penalty kick to Dixie State that made it 2-0 a minute before Perez was injured.
“I did not interfere,” Hufford said, “I did not even touch her, that was my ball all the way and (the official) knew it, he knew he messed up. I tried to protect myself from her charging at me but I never touched her.”
At the end it was another defeat, the third consecutive match in which UHH was unable to score.
“We kept possession well, we played with a lot of energy and took the match to them for a while,” said Gene Okamura, coach of both Vulcans’ soccer teams. “We didn’t have that final punch, but we played hard, we had a call (on Hufford) go against us that we didn’t like and then it just got crazy.”
The Vulcans host Concordia Saturday, with the men starting at 4:30 and the women’s game to follow at 7 p.m.
Dixie State 3, UH-Hilo 0: In the first half, the UH-Hilo men’s soccer team defended vigorously against Dixie State but fell 3-0 on Thursday at Paiea Stadium, suffering its third straight scoreless loss.
Against the Trailblazers (7-0 PacWest, 9-3), with a 2-0 record on a four-game swing through the islands, the Vuls finally broke down in the last minute after Trenton Hooper received his second yellow card of the match and was red-carded to the sidelines leaving UHH (0-6-1, 1-9-1), a man down.
“We started out pretty well,” said Gene Okamura, coach of the both UH teams, “but playing a man down opened up a lot of stuff for them.”
Okamura had told both of his teams that Dixie State was playing its third game in the islands, “and they have to be a little tired, a little out of place.”
The intent was to open the game with an excess of energy, taking the fight to the Blazers.
“It was working out all right,” he said, “even though we had trouble getting the ball forward, we still had pretty good shape (defensively) and then we were in a scramble (after going down, 1-0).”
The back end of the defense was stretched out of shape by Dixie State’s offensive width, then freshman Gustavo Ortega sent a cross from the left wing past the goal to the other side where Moises Medina, another freshman, tapped to the far corner past the diving goalie Andrew Tamburro who didn’t have a chance to get in position.
The Blazers scored again in the 51st minute and Medina got his second of the match in the 68th min ute to close it out.
