WAIPAHU, Hawaii — A rare opportunity was on the table for the Hawaii soccer team on Sunday, but the Rainbow Wahine produced something else entirely at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
“We go and lay this egg in the middle of the field, and now we have to go and win on the road,” UH coach Michele Nagamine lamented after a loss 1-0 to defending Big West tournament champion UC Irvine.
It was a match that could’ve helped solidify the Wahine (3-4-3, 2-2-1 Big West) at the top of the conference at the midpoint of their 10 league games. But they could not recapture the come-from-behind second-half energy that defined their win over UC San Diego on Thursday.
The Wahine remain in first place with seven points, but that is partly due to the fact they have played more teams than several of their opponents, including UCI (4-4-3, 1-0-2), which got in just its third conference game.
UH has qualified for the Big West tournament only once, as a No. 4 seed in 2019; now the top six qualify. It heads to Cal State Bakersfield (2-6-3, 1-1-2) and UC Davis (5-5-2, 1-1-2) for matches on Thursday and Sunday.
Anteaters forward Laila El Behery caromed in the winner off the far post in the 31st minute and the Wahine seldom created prime scoring opportunities despite outshooting their opponent 10-6.
Starting goalkeeper Sophie Augustin smothered a ball in the box at the first-half horn, but in doing so took a kick to the face by a UCI player. No cards were issued by the referee, to the irritation of Nagamine, who noted UH lost Augustin to an early injury against the Anteaters last season. As in that game, backup Brianna Chirpich came on in relief.
UCI reached the NCAA tournament round of 16 with postseason victories over USC and Brown, and returned much of that team in 2023.
“We know this was on us. They’re a good team, but we were every bit as good tonight,” Nagamine said. “We just didn’t create dangerous goal-scoring opportunities when we had the chance to do that. We kept just kind of playing into the traps they set for us.”
It was the first time since last year’s home finale against Cal State Fullerton that UH was shut out at WPSS.
UCI nearly added another score in the waning minutes as a deep shot hit the underside of the crossbar and possibly into the goal before it spun back out. But no ruling was made by the referee and play continued.
Mililani High graduate Aislynn Crowder, a former UCLA Bruin, played 67 minutes for the Anteaters, recording a shot on goal.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.