COSTA MESA, Calif. — It was another clean sheet for Phoebe Barnes and the Hawai’i Hilo women’s soccer team, however, it was also an empty net resulting in a consecutive scoreless draw to Cal State San Bernardino Monday afternoon at Vanguard University.
Barnes nabbed three saves for career shutout No. 15 (fifth as a Vulcan). Hawai’i Hilo took 17 shots to CSUSB’s seven (6-3 on-goal).
In the 73rd minute, the Vulcans had their best opportunity of the evening to take the advantage when Diana Garcia unleashed a shot labeled for the top-right corner of the net, but Yotes goalkeeper Leila Peregrina managed a diving stop to push the ball out of play.
“We missed some golden opportunities and just didn’t execute,” Hawai’i Hilo head coach Gene Okamura said. “We created some golden opportunities but couldn’t get the finish. Defensively, we kept them off the scoreboard again so that’s a positive.” The Vulcans opened the season last Saturday with a 0-0 result against Cal State Los Angeles.
Monday’s match was originally scheduled to be played at Cal State San Bernardino’s Premier Field, but heat and air quality issues from nearby wildfire forced the match to be played off site.
The Yotes were voted to finish seventh in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Preseason Coaches Poll. Hawai’i was voted No. 3 in the Pacific West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
CSUSB opened its season last Friday with a 4-0 loss to fellow PacWest foe Concordia University Irvine.
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 0-0-2 (0-0-0 PacWest) as Cal State San Bernardino moved to an 0-1-1 record. The Vulcans will head up to the Pacific Northwest to take on Seattle Pacific on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 1:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. PT).
Hawai’i Hilo will then return home to host Western Oregon on Sept. 19 at 3 p.m.
Souza earns Defender of Week honors
With two clean sheets to start the season, Hawai’i Hilo men’s soccer goalkeeper Christian Souza was selected as the season’s first Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week as announced Monday morning.
The Vulcans posted consecutive 2-0 victories to start the season with a win over Cal State Dominguez Hills (Sept. 5) at home and over Chaminade (Sept. 7) on O’ahu. Souza tallied eight and five saves, respectively.
“It was a team effort,” Souza said. “I was excited to see that type of recognition, but it does take all 11 of us to keep a shutout for two games. I’m happy we all followed coach Diego’s principles and it kept the other teams scoreless.”
The fifth-year senior now has seven career shutouts, putting him at No. 2 all-time in program history just behind Ivan Mercado’s (08-09) total of nine.
The Kapolei, Hawai’i native now also has 129 total career saves, sitting at No. 3 all-time behind Nick Williams (17-18) and Michael Harre (19-21) — whose totals are 143 and 133, respectively.