UH-Hilo women’s soccer knocked out in second round of tourney

The tremendous run for the back-to-back Pacific West Conference Champions came to an end Saturday afternoon as the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s soccer team fell to Concordia University Irvine, 2-1, in overtime in the second round of the NCAA Div. II Women’s Soccer Championship West Regional at the Vulcan Soccer Field.

Following a free-kick restart just under six minutes into the first of two 10-minute overtime periods, CUI’s Layla Comeaux intercepted a Vulcans pass and flipped the script with a downfield launch to Riley Walkington, who twisted and turned between two defenders to create the space for a long-range strike from 20 yards out to find the back of the net.

The score stood the rest of the way as CUI claimed victory and advanced to today’s NCAA West Region title game against Western Washington — who defeated Point Loma Nazarene Saturday.

“The goal was to get further in the NCAA tournament and we did it, and we won the conference outright this year,” said UH-Hilo head coach Gene Okamura. “We just said how proud we were of them and thanking them for what they have done for our program.”

The Golden Eagles out shot the Vulcans at a 14-9 margin, 7-5 shots on goal, while limiting Hilo to zero corner kicks.

Daelenn Tokunaga netted the Vulcans’ lone goal in the 28th minute as Grace VerHage and Teani Arakawa quickly worked to get the ball downfield for the 2021 PacWest Player of the Year to strike the left-footed score past the goalkeeper.

Jadenn Carrillo hit the equalizing score in the 56th minute from about 22 yards out on a left-footer over the top through three defenders.

The Vulcans end the season at 13-1-3 overall.

Concordia University Irvine improved to 14-4-2 overall and will travel to Bellingham, Wash., to second-seeded Western Washington to play for the NCAA West Region title today. The winner advances to the NCAA Quarterfinal Round and will take on the winner of the South Central Region.