With the Hawaii soccer team’s season on the line, the Rainbow Wahine flatlined.
Another two-goal hole and a costly red card on the Waipio Peninsula proved too much to overcome on Thursday night, as a deflating 2-1 defeat to UC Irvine meant the Rainbow Wahine have almost no conceivable scenario to qualify for the four-team Big West tournament next month.
"It hurts," UH coach Michele Nagamine said.
Even a defeat of Cal State Northridge in the home finale next Sunday almost certainly won’t be enough for the seventh-place Wahine (7-8-1, 2-4-1 BWC).
"That’s what sucks the most, is that it’s their last game (next week)," junior midfielder Hayden Gibson said of the team’s six seniors. "Especially for Chelsea (Miyake), Karli (Look) and Male (Fresquez) who play every minute of every game and work so hard. It sucks that we can’t give this to them."
UH’s head-scratching woes at home — it fell to 2-5 at the Waipio Soccer Stadium — continued early as the Anteaters (9-6, 4-2) scored twice in the first 11 minutes.
The Wahine got a goal back when freshman T.J. Reyno checked into the game in the 15th minute and promptly scored her first career goal when she stole the ball from UCI goalkeeper Corey Tobin.
But the Wahine were hamstrung early in the second half when Kama Pascua was red-carded with 31 minutes to play, forcing UH to play a woman down the rest of the way. Quality looks were few at that point.
Pascua kicked at Tobin in frustration after tumbling over the UCI keeper for her second red of the season. She will miss the home finale by rule.
"It was just ridiculous. And I told Kama … she’s very passionate, but she needs to learn how to control it," Nagamine said. "It was stupid, a stupid foul. She needs to have more gamesmanship and I ripped her after the game, because she was selfish. She put herself before the team."
Before that the Wahine, a possession-based team, had trouble out-possessing the Anteaters.
"You know Hawaii’s going to be passionate whenever you play them," UCI coach Scott Juniper said. "You put 1,000 people in the stadium here, that crowd really gathers some momentum. … We knew it was going to steer our season in one of two different directions."
The same was true for UH, and the result was a dead end.
