The Hawaii Hilo women’s soccer team claimed its first NCAA Division II Tournament victory Thursday with a 3-1 triumph over Concordia Irvine in San Diego.
Jazlynn Ellis scored at 36:18 off assists from Alyssa Padron and Alia Bournay, Padron scored at 45:23, and Diana Garcia converted a penalty kick at 66:27 for the Vulcans (14-2-3) in the West Regional first-round game.
“It’s the first NCAA Tournament win for our program, so it’s very big,” Hilo coach Gene Okamura said in a school press release. “Super proud of the girls for the work they put in and execution of the tactics and game plan we talked about. Hopefully we can do it again on Saturday.”
The Vulcans will face host Point Loma in Saturday’s second-round game at 11 a.m. The Sea Lions (16-2-1) beat Simon Fraser 2-1 on Thursday.
Point Loma, the defending national champion, beat Hilo in last week’s PacWest title game.
Phoebe Barnes made four saves for the Vulcans on Thursday.
Nikki Marino scored at 77:32 for the Golden Eagles (13-3-2).
Hilo made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022.
Chaminade volleyball wins PacWest title
Mahala Ka’apuni and Anna Stucchi each had 13 kills as the No. 7 Chaminade women’s volleyball team clinched the PacWest regular-season title Thursday with a 25-15, 25-14, 24-26, 25-18 victory over Hawaii Pacific at McCabe Gym.
Letizia Cammillucci finished with 12 kills and six aces, and Grace Talpash recorded 31 assists for the Silverswords (26-4, 19-0).
Ella Dotson had 13 kills for the Sharks (2-24, 2-18).
