The UH-Hilo men’s soccer team was all set to score another upset, needing to play solid — not perfect — defense against PacWest conference leader Azusa Pacific.
The Vulcans held a 2-0 halftime lead and had outshot the Cougars 10-7, but UHH’s weakness (defending shots) reared its head in the second half.
APU scored all its goals in the last 45 minutes to rally past UHH 4-2 on Tuesday at Kamehameha’s Paiea Stadium.
In its season opener, UHH stunned No. 24 Western Washington 1-0, despite being outshot 29-3.
A win by the last-place Vulcans (1-5, 0-2 PacWest) over the Cougars (6-1-1, 3-0) would have sent shockwaves in the conference.
Instead UHH suffered its fifth straight loss and has now been outshot 109-36 or by an average of 22-6 per game and outscored 21-6.
Just three minutes in, Jorge Martinez scored off an assist from Christian Ohly. Then six minutes later, Matt Wilkinson knocked in a penalty kick to give UHH a 2-0 lead.
But the second half belonged to the Cougars, who immediately went to work.
UHH had difficulty guarding Gabriel Costa, APU’s top goal scorer. He scored less than five minutes into the second half and added another goal 12 minutes later.
Then 10 minutes later, Costa dribbled past a defender and fed James Ndubueze, who gave APU a 3-2 lead.
Costa is a 5-foot-6 freshman from Brail. He now leads the conference with eight goals.
At the 79:20-minute mark, Gregoire Diep blasted in a shot from the right side of the penalty box for APU, which outshot UHH 21-12.
The Vulcans play Chaminade at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Kamehameha.