Things were looking pretty good for the UH-Hilo men’s soccer team, which held a 2-0 lead over No. 17 Seattle Pacific in the first half Wednesday.
But in nonconference game full of technical errors, the Falcons capitalized on a glaring one by the Vulcans for a 3-2 win in overtime at UHH’s baseball stadium.
On a counter play, Alex Mejia had the ball on the left wing and was defended by a pair of Vulcans. Neither hedged to his right foot, and UHH goalie Michael Harre had no chance to stop the game-winner eight minutes into overtime.
In the first half, the Vulcans (1-2) scored two goals 26 minutes into the game. Henrique Castillho crossed to Kalei Tolentino-Perry, a senior transfer from Division I San Jose State, who easily scored. Four minutes later, Luca Lippert scored on a pass from Andrew Rehedul.
“It’s a tough loss against a ranked team. They’re 17th, and we played the best that we could,” Tolentino-Perry said. “I was surprised we were up. We didn’t want to let up and get scored on. But they caught up.”
Both UHH goals were technical errors by the Falcons (4-1), who forgot Soccer Lesson 101. The first thing AYSO defensive players are taught is to stay goal-side. Basically, a defender should always be between the ball and goalie, preferably as close as possible to the attacker.
Most coaches claim that experience is the best teacher, and that proved to be the case for Castillho, a senior from Brazil. On his first trip down the left flank, he had a one-on-one opportunity but overdribbled, the double team arrived and stole the ball.
“I talked to him about that,” Tolentino-Perry said. “Next time, just make one touch and whip the ball across.”
About 15 minute into the second half, Alden Massey ripped a shot into the lower left corner though traffic. Then three minutes later, Travis Swallow kicked a shot over two defenders to tie the game 2-2.
UHH freshman sweeper Magnus Olsson, from Denmark, looked like the best defender on the field. Whenever a Falcon got the ball deep in Vulcan territory, he raced to defend and didn’t let his attacker turn to fire a shot. He was fast and physical enough, at 6 feet 2 and 175 pounds, to neutralize threats.
“He’s fast, and he comes to play,” Tolentino-Perry said of Olsson.
Unlike some of his teammates, who had a bad habit of passing the ball back to the Falcons, Olsson made sure he had a clear passing lane and often started the offense from the backline.
His fellow defender, right fullback Caesar Hjerten, a senior from Sweden, had a stellar game defending forward Titus Grant, who has two goals on the season. On one play in the second half, Hjerten beat Grant to the ball and broke his ankles. Hjerten took Grant off the dribble, and the Falcon fell down on his buttocks, an Instagram “Banana peel” moment.
At the start of the game, Seattle Pacific’s dominant ball-possession game came into play. UHH had the ball first and promptly lost possession.
The Vulcans didn’t get the ball back for more than 2 minutes, 30 seconds, an eternity in soccer ball-possession. Then they immediately kicked it out of bounds.
The Falcons showed very good spatial awareness, passing the ball to open spaces and letting their forwards run to the ball. They also played the ball back to their backline and switched fields to get the Vuls out of position.
But just like baseball, all it takes is one swing or one shot, and you’re back in the game or quickly ahead.
During their midfield conference, the Falcons probably reminded each other about AYSO Soccer Lesson 101, play goal-side defense. They did a much better job defensively and created opportunities with their better ball-possession attack.
Tolentino-Perry noted there is a difference between Division I and Division II, especially in personnel. The higher division has more academy players or elite travel club players.
His old Spartans are 2-4-1 and went 5-12-2 in 2019. Asked how San Jose State would have fared against a ball-possession team like Seattle Pacific, Tolentino-Perry was ready to fire an answer.
‘“Seattle Pacific is a ball-possession team, and San Jose State is a ball-possession team, and we’d have beat them,” he said.
His goal for a program which hasn’t finished above .500 in the past decade is an ambitious one: He’d like to spark the Vulcans to a winning record.
“I’m a hometown player, and I’d like to leave a legacy especially for the little ones,” he said. “It’ll take the help of the seniors. But I have no doubt we can have a winning season.”
UHH next plays Western Washington on Sunday at home.