For the second time in three years, Portland State confounded the Hawaii soccer team.
The Vikings prevailed over the Rainbow Wahine 1-0 at Hillsboro (Ore.) Stadium in a daytime game Friday.
UH coach Michele Nagamine couldn’t hide her disgust in a phone interview after her team possessed well but failed to cash in on numerous opportunities — 11 shots on goal and several others that went high or wide from close range.
The team’s first mainland game of the season was also its first time on the wrong end of a shutout in 2015.
"I kind of tore into them after the game. I didn’t mince any words because I think that they need to hear it," Nagamine said. "This team is searching for an identity."
The Wahine, who beat Denver 1-0 on Monday, went into Friday’s contest with a mind to pay back the Vikings for a 2-0 PSU win on the Waipio Peninsula back in 2013. In that one, the Vikings packed it in defensively and scored twice on counterattacks.
They went conservative again this time in a 4-5-1 formation, yet went up on a 26th-minute goal by Megan Myers in a scrum off of a corner kick. That was soon after Nagamine thought her team "could have been up 3-0 in the first 15 minutes."
Several Rainbow Wahine had chances; Nagamine named just about every playmaker on the roster as among those who couldn’t capitalize on 17 total attempts. Vikings goalkeeper Angela Haluska, a senior, had a career-high 11 saves.
"Their keeper made a couple pretty good saves, but we definitely made her look good," Nagamine said. "We moved the ball nicely and we had some pretty good rhythm, but I dunno, I’m really, really disappointed in the lack of finishing ability. We have so many weapons offensively and none of them are stepping up to take control and it’s very, very disappointing to me."
Forward Kama Pascua had a team-high five shots. Tiana Fujimoto and Kellsie Gleason had three each and Storm Kenui and Sonest Furtado shot it twice.
"We have a ton of offensive firepower, but we just need somebody to step up and take control of it," Nagamine said.
UH (1-3-1) now heads down the West Coast to face San Francisco (3-1-1) of the West Coast Conference.