The UH-Hilo women’s soccer team still has the same 13-year-old problem — a lack of offense, despite three Division I transfer forwards, who were supposed to add scoring punch.
The most well-known one locally, 2019 Hilo High graduate and Northern Arizona transfer Jordyn Pacheco, didn’t start and logged only limited minutes. The other two, Filippa Graneld (Colorado) and Daeleen Tokunaga (UH-Manoa), started and each had one shot but not on frame.
Westminster, a Division II school from Utah, blanked the Vulcans 1-0 on Thursday at Oahu’s Waipahu Peninsula Soccer Park, scoring with 14 minutes left.
For the Griffins (1-0), Elaina Pierce slipped a shot past goalie Vivana Poli, who started the game and was replaced by backup Taylor Hornburg with 6:14 remaining.
“We created really good opportunities but didn’t put them away,” UHH coach Gene Okamura said. “The defense played pretty well. They had that one moment when we didn’t defend well, and they punished us.”
Okamura noted that he’s not planning any lineup change such as giving Pacheco more playing time or changing goalies.
“The stats don’t reflect what happened,” he said. “We had three or four really good opportunities, 1 on 1, and it wasn’t a lack of opportunities.”
According to the stats, the Griffins had eight shots, including three on goal while the Vuls had three shots, just one on goal.
Saydee Bacdad, a 2019 Hilo graduate and a Division I Utah Valley transfer goalie, didn’t start.
Christina Kanellou, who played at Sierra College in California, started at forward. Only Kanellou, who’s from Greece, had a shot on goal, the only attempt for the Vulcans (0-1).
Ever since best friends and talented forwards Adele Letro and Megan Pachecano, who each share the UHH single-season record with 14 goals, graduated in 2008, the Vulcans have been desperately trying to find someone who can score.
During the coronavirus-shortened spring season, UHH had four ties against Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific. The Vuls had four ties in 2019 when they went 6-7-4, and two ties in 2018 when they finished 10-4-2, their last winning season.
UHH men ranked 10th
The Vulcans didn’t garner much respect from opposing coaches in the PacWest preseason poll, which had them ranked No. 10th out of 11 teams. No Vulcans were selected to the three preseason teams.
Azusa Pacific was predicted to win its third straight PacWest title. The Cougars were ranked No.1 for most of the 2019 regular season but fell in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.
UHH was 1-1-2 during the coronavirus-shortened spring season. During the spring season, UHH senior forward Kalei Tolentino-Perry (Hilo High), a Division I transfer from San Jose State, was named to the PacWest Hawaii pod team along with junior midfielder Luca Lippert (Germany), senior defender Caesar Hjerten (Sweden), and freshman goalie Christian Souza (Kapolei).
It was the Vulcan’s first non-losing season since 2009 when they finished 10-10.
In 15 years, the Vulcans have had one winning season in 2008 when the team finished 11-5-2.