The Hawaii soccer team remained winless on the road in 2015 after a 3-1 defeat at UNLV on Friday night.
Junior forward T.J. Reyno had the lone goal for the Rainbow Wahine (2-5-1), who dropped to 0-3 on the mainland. UNLV, featuring Hawaii natives Brittney Gideon, Isabelle Delgado and Lily Sender, successfully defended Johann Memorial Field and improved to 4-4 overall.
"They jumped out at us. They were high pressure," UH coach Michele Nagamine said in a postgame phone interview from Las Vegas. "They moved the ball well. … They worked really, really hard. They were extremely motivated. It was a night game, tons of kids. The atmosphere was pretty electric for them."
UH played without striker Kama Pascua and first-string goalkeeper Monk Berger, who were not brought on the two-game road trip that concludes at Nevada (2-4-1) on Sunday.
Pascua served an automatic suspension for a red card she received against Cal State Bakersfield last week, while Berger is recovering from a concussion suffered in practice.
In Berger’s absence, reserve goalkeeper Erica Young got the nod — her first action of the season. Nagamine said morale was high going into the game, despite the missing players.
"We had a great warmup, but then it was just off. I can’t even explain it. It’s probably one of the harder games I’ve had to watch," she said.
UH yielded a score in the ninth minute when Dakota Blazak scored unassisted, dribbling through midfield and launching a low shot from the right of the box through traffic and past Young.
Reyno equalized things in the 40th minute when she scored on a cross from defender Sarah Lau. It was the junior’s first goal of the season and third career. It was also UH’s first mainland score of the season.
"We let them get momentum and we paid for it," Nagamine said. "I was happy we were able to get a goal back after they scored the first one."
The momentum lasted only through halftime. The Rebels got the go-ahead goal in the 53rd minute from Susie Bernal.
"We need our more experienced players to show up, and when they don’t, we suffer," Nagamine said. "It was a little eye-opening for me. … The production level was very, very low, but the other team was very high pressure."
However, the coach credited some of her reserves who don’t normally see a lot of playing time. Eighteen Wahine saw action.
"Paige Okazaki stepped up, Madison Reed stepped up … Nici Lopez got some good minutes, Raisa Strom-Okimoto, Tini (Justine) Olotoa. So we got a lot of kids in."
Freshman goalkeeper Alexis Mata was inserted for the last 24 minutes. She yielded a goal by Jodi Barber, who put home a loose ball in the box in the 71st minute.
"We missed Monk Berger tonight, no doubt," Nagamine said. "You need your goalkeepers to keep you in the game, and they did not do that tonight."
The Nevada game kicks off at 10 a.m. Hawaii time.
