KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With two more wins added to its belt, UH-Hilo women’s soccer moved up two spots to No. 23 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25 National Rankings released Tuesday morning.
After entering the top 25 for the first time this season, the Vulcans notched victories over Academy of Art and Dominican during the last week. UH-Hilo also moved up one spot to No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Rankings.
Other Pacific West Conference mates slotted ahead are No. 6 Concordia Irvine (7-0-1) and reigning national champion No. 15 Point Loma (7-1-1). With the addition of three schools to the PacWest creating a new scheduling format, the Vulcans are not set to face-off with either team during the regular season. The top four teams in the conference will battle in the inaugural PacWest Conference Championships postseason tournament set for Nov. 14-16 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.
Colorado School of Mines (9-0-1) remained atop the top 25 poll as Grand Valley State slid from its previous mark of No. 2 down to No. 16.
Women’s hoops schedule released
A 28-game slate awaits the UH-Hilo women’s basketball team, including two exhibitions against Division-I opponents right at home at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
The Vulcans open the season by hosting UH Manoa for an exhibition at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 before starting official competition with a home non-conference matchup against HPU (Nov. 10). UH-Hilo will not leave the state until its first Pacific West Conference road trip in late January. Included in the non-conference home stand is four matches as part of the annual Big Island Holiday Classic during Thanksgiving week and near the end of December.
The second Division-I exhibition features Eastern Kentucky at 6 p.m. Dec. 11.
With the addition of three new members to the PacWest Conference, the regular season will no longer be formatted for equal home and away contests. This winter, the Vulcans will only have single matchups against Westmont, Biola, Azusa Pacific, Vanguard, Fresno Pacific and Dominican.
The top six teams will once again qualify for the PacWest Conference Championships postseason tournament set for March 6-8 at Dominican’s Conlan Center in San Rafael, California.
Last season, UH-Hilo made a late push by taking victories in seven of its last nine contests but just narrowly missed out on a trip to the postseason tournament.
No. 25 Vulcans answer back
The No. 25 UH-Hilo Women’s Soccer team found themselves down on the scoreboard for the first time this season but answered the call to flip the score and claim a 4-2 victory over Dominican Sunday afternoon in Pacific West Conference play at the Vulcan Soccer Field.
Jazlynn Ellis factored into three of the Vulcans’ scores, netting both the game-tying and insurance goals while assisting on the game-winner by Teani Arakawa just a few minutes into the second half. Ellis leads the conference in goals (three) and points (eight) early through the PacWest season (conference-only matches).
The Penguins got on the scoreboard early with a tap-in by Jackie Lancaster in the fifth minute, but the Vulcans answered back just mere moments later with fifth-year transfer Shea Christiansen blasting through her first collegiate score off a corner-kick header attempt from Alyssa Padron that deflected off of the goalkeeper.
Ellis’ first goal was an odd sequence of events as Filippa Graneld drilled a cross in from a left corner kick and ricocheted it off the goalkeeper’s head to the backside of Ellis and in for the score. On the game-winner assist, Ellis sent a cross from the left side that again deflected off of the goalkeeper for Arakawa to clean up for her sixth goal of the season.
In the 68th minute, Diana Garcia launched deep from 35 yards out and was met with the crossbar, but Ellis found herself front and center for another finish through the back of the net to close the scoring.
No. 25 UH-Hilo moved to a 3-0-0 record in the PacWest (6-0-2 overall) as Dominican moved to a 1-3-0 conference record (4-5-1 overall).
The Vulcans continue their homestand hosting Jessup (Saturday) and Menlo (Tuesday) at the Vulcan Soccer Field.
Men’s soccer falls
One goal was all the difference as UH-Hilo men’s soccer fell to Dominican, 1-0, Sunday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action at the Vulcan Soccer Field.
The Vulcans finished at a 13-9 total in shots (5-4 on goal), but it was Lex Bernier’s conversion in the 18th minute that gave the Penguins the game-winner. UH-Hilo was coming out of a goal kick and an errant pass allowed Bernier to come away with a snatch and score from the top of the penalty arc.
Perhaps UH-Hilo’s closest scoring opportunities came in the opening moments of the second half when it fired off three shots on goal through the first nine minutes of action.
UH-Hilo moved to 1-2-0 in the PacWest (6-3-0 overall) while Dominican moved to a 2-2-0 conference record (5-4-1 overall).
The Vulcans continue their homestand hosting Jessup (Saturday) and Menlo (Tuesday) next week at the Vulcan Soccer Field.
Top four teams in the regular season standings will qualify for the first PacWest Conference Championships postseason tournament set for Nov. 14-16 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.
