Soccer Wahine suffer first setback

A couple of things were missing for the Hawaii soccer team on Thursday besides a ball in the back of the net.

The extra run and the extra pass didn’t happen often enough against Pacific, resulting in UH’s first defeat of the season, 1-0, on Thursday night at the Waipio Peninsula.

Senior forward Sonest Furtado, who led UH with five shots, thought her team came out with some jitters because it was both their first TV game of the season and the Rainbow Wahine (2-1) were shooting for a rare 3-0 start, which would’ve been just the third in program history and first since 2001.

“I feel like we came out frantic. We weren’t connecting our passes,” Furtado said. “It just looked like we weren’t playing together. Weren’t moving for each other. Eventually we just lost the ball and we were chasing the whole game. They get that one lucky goal and then we’re down 1-0 trying to catch up and get that goal back.”

She added the team must do a better job of having at least two players show (get open) at all times for a teammate with the ball.

UH coach Michele Nagamine blasted her team for its brand of play after the more cohesive play it showed in its first tournament.

“I thought we were very selfish. I thought we had a bunch of individuals,” she said. “I didn’t feel we had each other’s back.”

Nagamine also lamented predictable attacks; her forwards’ inability to finish balls in the 6-yard box; and her remixed defense’s breakdown on a straightforward cross by the Tigers that yielded the game’s only score by Bryndis Thorolfsdottir in the 10th minute.

That said, UH had several opportunities late in the game as it dominated possession in the second half. But Tigers keeper Regan Heslop was up to the task, saving eight shots, including a left-footed effort from Furtado that could’ve tied things up with 30 seconds left, and Pacific (1-1-1) matched its win total from last year’s 1-15-1 campaign.

UH finished with a 17-9 shots advantage, to no avail.

“Second half we definitely came out more fired up,” Furtado said. “We were trying to attack the goal more because Coach Bud told us at halftime ‘stop going backwards. We have to go forwards in our pace.’ But I feel at times we forced it. I think we had to just open it up, be patient, and then when it was the right moment look to get it behind and get those opportunities.”

UH has some time in this Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Soccer Classic tournament to address its shortcomings; it doesn’t play again until Monday against Seattle (0-2). Pacific and Seattle meet at 7 p.m. Saturday in the three-team tourney.

The Wahine can show up to watch that one.

Nagamine said she’d think about retooling her team’s day-before-gameday ritual because several players looked tired Thursday, a surprising turn given her confidence in her team’s fitness.

The back line could be a lingering challenge, as UH was forced to plug Bo Samson, a natural outside back, at center back for the first time because of the knee injury to freshman Cristina Drossos.’

But there were issues all along the back line.

“I thought our outside backs were a little bit quiet; we had to make some subs there,” Nagamine said. “It just wasn’t our best performance. We have no excuse other than we didn’t do the job. We created more than enough opportunities and we just didn’t do the job.”

On the positive side for UH, here was one of midfielder Lei Medeiros’ crazy-long throw-ins referenced in the previous post. This one probably caused the most trouble for the defense among about five of her throw-ins as it bounced around near the 6-yard box.

Here's one of Lei Medeiros' long throw-ins just now, as mentioned in the @hawaiiwworld #HawaiiWSOC post from earlier today. pic.twitter.com/Y2PsFVQCfv

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— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) August 25, 2017