KEAAU — Hawaii-Hilo did something Saturday night at Paiea Stadium not very many teams have done this season against the two-time defending Pacific West champion Point Loma women — they scored.
Twice.
They also buried the season for Point Loma, which came to the islands last week in hopes of winning a PWC championship, but left Hilo with no hope.
“Our season is over,” said Point Loma (10-4-3, 8-3-1 in the Pacific West Conference) women’s coach Tim Hall, who has led his squad to back-to-back PWC championships. “I am absolutely shocked, this ends it for us. I think we may have won all the statistical battles, the only one we didn’t win is that one on the scoreboard.
The Sea Lions had allowed just seven goals all season until senior Annabel Gonzalez roared in on Point Loma goalie Ariel Oriarte, gave a head fake then slapped a shot that glanced off the left upright and found a soft spot to land in the back of the net to give the Vulcans a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. It was just the start for Gonzalez in her last home game.
Point Loma had gone 808 minutes without allowing a goal prior to a 1-0 loss at Chaminade on Thursday.
That goal held up until the 52nd minute when Keagan Bolibol got within five yards of goalkeeper Jenna Hufford, took a pass from Kaiti Freeberg and evened the score.
Gonzalez answered with an unassisted goal as the Vulcans (3-7-4, 1-6-4 PWC), regained the lead, 2-1 in the 59th minute.
“We’ve been close all year against these top teams,” Gonzalez said, “and it seemed like we just put it together tonight; we played for each other like we should every game.
“It was Senior Night and we wanted it badly,” she said. “It’s frustrating to be so close, but we can build on this; we are a good team.”
The Vulcans had nine games that were either lost one goal or ended up in a draw.
“It was great to see them do this,” said Gene Okamura, coach of both Hilo teams. “Annabel getting two on Senior Night? Awesome.”
SEA LIONS 3, VULCANS 2: For a while, it seemed the UHH men’s team had climbed the mountain, finally.
The timing would have been appropriate for the Vulcans’ last home game of the 2016 season, but it was illusory, as most bright moments have been for them this season.
Hawaii Hilo (1-13-1, 0-10-1 in the Pacific West Conference), played with aggression early against Point Loma Nazarene (8-5-4, 7-4-1 in PWC), and had the Sea Lions in a 2-0 hole before a fluke goal began to turn it in another direction.
In the second half, a red card delivered to Hilo’s Jonathan Garcia left the Vulcans a man down for the final 30 minutes, when Point Loma scored the eventual winning goal.
“To give up a two goal lead, that’s pretty hard to swallow,” said Okamura. “This is another one of those games where it was right there for us but it slipped away.”
It was the fourth one-goal loss of the season and, with a draw against Hawaii Pacific, it was a reminder of the competitive level of play the Vulcans brought with a new roster of players recruited by a coach who resigned last spring.
“We had a chance,” said junior goalkeeper Cassidy Dixon, from Pahoa, “but we had some things go against us.”
That would include the first goal, registered officially as scored by Eduardo Gallardo, his second of the season, but that wasn’t the whole story.
“That was a tough one,” said Dixon. “(Gallardo) he put a hit on it, I had it all the way and as I went to grab it, it hit one of my defenders in the rear end and glanced in. I couldn’t get to it.”
That gave the Sea Lions life and the red card in the second half seemed to bury the Vulcans.
“There were three guys pushing and punching at Trenton (Hooper),” said freshman Jonathan Garcia, “I went in to help out and they gave me a red card. I don’t know what the refs had against us, but that wasn’t right.”
Referee Ken Kotner said the red card was for violent conduct.
“(Garcia) came running in and made hard, violent contact,” Kotner said, “that was that.”
The Vulcans started with an early goal for a quick lead when Garcia began the series with a 5th minute corner kick the Sea Lions were unable to clear from the penalty area.
Jake Sagami drove the ball toward the goal and Anthony Novella got a foot on it to chip it into the upper corner of the net. It was the fourth shot on goal all season for the senior from Mission Valley, Calif., and his first goal, in his last home appearance.
It was the first time the Vuls scored first since the first match of the season against Westminster College in Nampa, Idaho, Sept. 8.
Point Loma began a more deliberate, ball-control approach and had the ball most of the time until the Vulcans interrupted the attack, sent a long ball down the sideline that freshman Daniel Baumgartner caught up with. He took it toward the middle of the field from the left side, spotted Curtis Walker on a run to the far corner and delivered and accurate pass Walker tapped in to an open goal for the 2-0 lead.
That was the second first of the last home game for 2016, the first time Hawaii Hilo has led by two goals all season.
It was short lived.
Point Loma answered with goals in the run of play by Eduardo Gallardo in the 31st minute, then two minutes later, Nico Tagaloa caught defense out of shape and tied.
Dixon kept the score tied at halftime following a high-flying leap to slap away a ball that would have found the back of the net in the 44th minute.
Playing a man down, the Vulcans held off the Sea Lions for just two minutes when Point Loma reversed the ball from right to left and found Mitch Wheelon open just outside the penalty area and his left-footed shot found its way past the left upright for a 3-2 lead before Dixon could scramble from the right side to stop it.
Dixon made another extended leap to send a shot over the Hilo goalie the 78th minute to keep it a one-goal game.
