UH-Hilo’s men’s soccer team can worry about Saturday when it gets there.
On Thursday, coach Paul Regrutto had a chance to savor his first Pacific West Conference victory in his second tour of duty with the program.
Matt Wilkinson netted his fifth goal of the season in the 86th minute in San Francisco, and the Vulcans downed Academy of Art 1-0 to snap a six-match losing streak.
“The win is just an indication that we are moving in the right direction,” Regrutto said.
In a match that included two yellow cards on both teams, two red cards on the Vulcans (2-6, 1-2 PacWest) and one on the Urban Knights, Wilkinson broke through after taking Bradley Doyle’s through ball at the corner of the box and depositing it into the right corner of net at 85:21.
“As of lately, we have been able to create more chances, defend better and maintain possession,” Regrutto said. “Those are all positives for us. We still have a lot of work to do, but I am pleased with the progress.”
Wilkinson won’t have a chance to score Saturday when the Vulcans take on Holy Names to wrap up a brief two-match road trip. The junior transfer received his fifth yellow card of the season in the fourth minute, meaning he is out for the match against the Hawks.
Same for red card recipients Jorge Martinez and Robert George.
The Urban Knights (1-7-1, 04-1) got off of 13 shots in the match, five of them saved by goalkeeper Nick Williams. UH-Hilo had six shots, two of them on frame
For Williams, it was his second shutout of the season and he added to his PacWest leading save total, now at 51.
• UH-Hilo women 1, Academy of Art 0: The Vulcans women’s team didn’t take as long to score, with Maleni Avalos scoring in the sixth minute as UHH won its for fourth consecutive game.
The Vulcans (5-1-2, 2-0-1) are unbeaten in their past six matches.
The Vulcans started the offensive pressure early, with a pair of corner kicks virtually right out of the gate. On the second corner, Tiera Arakawa’s pass came to Lucy Maino, who headed the ball off the Urban Knight keeper Morgan Wirz. The rebound came right back to Avalos, who tallied her first goal of the season.
Vuls keeper Bailey Cahill was credited with three saves against AAU (6-5, 1-4-0)