By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
Jordan Roylance scored a goal in the 105th minute to break a scoreless deadlock and lift Dixie State University to a hard-fought 1-0 double overtime win over the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Monday.
The Pacific West Conference men’s soccer match was played in St. George, Utah.
“Our guys played really well and their guys played really well,” UHH coach Ziggy Korytoski said. “It was a real good college soccer game and we had some good opportunities, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.
“Our guys are buying into what we’re doing and it’s starting to click. We just need a little luck and to keep playing hard and organized to get the win. Things are coming together and I feel really good about the future of this soccer program.”
Korytoski said the Vulcans (0-5-1 overall, 0-4-1 PacWest) had a couple of opportunities to score in the first half but they fell through. In the second half, the visitors battled on the host Red Storm (3-6-1, 2-3-1) on even terms and had additional shots at goal.
“We came out more aggressive in the second half and had a number of opportunities,” the Vulcans coach said. “Still, we should have put one of two of those opportunities away in the first half. When we didn’t, that motivated the boys to play even harder and Dixie State has a solid team. It’s not easy to go on the road and play here, then to get a win.”
UHH had the first chance to score in the opening overtime, but let it slip away. The Red Storm survived that offensive thrust and finally got an opportunity in the second OT to win it.
A Vulcan was stripped of the ball at midfield and Roylance was then able to beat one UHH defender before attacking the goal. The Dixie State player then beat Vulcan goalie Yonha Adrabi for the match’s only score.
“Yonha played really well, he had 10 saves,” Korytoski said. “Vinny (Muscarella) also played really well, and we had several other guys that played good throughout the game. It was just a good game overall for us, something we can build on.”
The Red Storm had 19 shots on goal and Adrabi, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior, and the UHH defense denied all but one. The Dixie State goalie had eight saves while the Vulcans were credited with 11 shots on goal.
The UHH coach said a penalty could have been called on the late strip that led to the game-winner, but he added that “the refs called a fair game.”
Women
• Dixie State 1, UHH 0: The conference-leading Red Storm defeated the Vulcans 1-0 in a hard-fought match in St. George, Utah.
The Red Storm improved to 5-3-2 overall and 5-1 in the PacWest while hustling UHH slipped to 3-5 and 1-4, respectively.
“I’m really proud of our girls, they played hard all the way through the game,” UHH coach Unity Beddingfield said. “It was a really good game and I’m going to enjoy watching what the girls take from this game and use against Grand Canyon and for the rest of the season.”
The Vulcans coach had special praise for sophomore goalie Breegan Saller, who had 10 saves and held the powerful hosts to only one goal which came in the second half.
“Breegan had a great game with all of her saves,” Beddingfield said.
Jennifer Mason scored for Dixie State, with about 20 minutes left in the match.
The UHH soccer teams play at Grand Canyon University on Wednesday and Cal Baptist University on Saturday.
At St. George, Utah
Men
UHH 0 0 0 0 — 0
DSU 0 0 0 0 — 1
Women
UHH 0 0 — 0
DSU 0 1 — 1
Men’s Golf
The UHH men’s golf team held down second place heading into today’s final round of the GolfWeek Division II Fall Invitational on Monday in Sunriver, Ore.
The Vulcans, under coach Earl Tamiya, carded rounds of 291 and 290 for a 581 total, three shots behind tournament leader Cal State Stanislaus (578). Chico State was third in the 14-team event with a 582 score.
Corey Kozuma (70-69) led the Vulcans with his 5-under-par 139 total and was tied for third place. Freshman Kyeton Littel carded a career-best 68 in the first round and had a 78 in the afternoon to finish at 146. Littel was tied for 15th place.
Also contributing for UHH were Jaime Hall (77-71—148, T-26), Dalen Yamauchi (76-73—149, T-31) and Chris Shimomura (78-77—155, T-52).
“The weather was perfect,” Tamiya said. “We played pretty well. It’s a difficult course, but we’re happy where we are after the first two rounds. If we can play well tomorrow (today), we have a chance to win. But we need everyone to shoot good.”
