When it came to opportunities for a breakthrough in the NCAA Division II women’s soccer tournament, the third time was indeed the charm for Hawaii Hilo.

The Vulcans dropped their opening game of the tourney in 2021 and 2022, but coach Gene Okamura’s squad broke through Thursday with a 3-1 win over Concordia-Irvine in San Diego, Calif., for the program’s first NCAA postseason victory in program history.

Their second-round game at 11 a.m. Hawaii time Saturday comes against defending national champion and 2024 PacWest Conference winner Point Loma Nazarene, the host of the four-team pod.

"It's the first NCAA Tournament win for our program so it's very big," Okamura said in a postgame NCAA video. "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."

PLNU (16-2-1) beat Hilo 3-2 in double overtime in the inaugural PacWest tournament championship game last week. In it, the Vulcans held a one-goal lead until the 88^th minute before the Sea Lions rallied.

Jazlynn Ellis got the scoring started for the Vulcans (14-2-3) on Thursday with a 37^th-minute blast; it was her fifth straight match with a goal.

Alyssa Padron tacked on a score coming out of halftime and Diana Garcia scored on a penalty kick for a 3-0 lead. Concordia got one back in the 78^th minute on Nikki Marino’s goal, preventing a 10^th Vulcans shutout on the season.

Goalkeeper Phoebe Barnes tallied four saves.

“It’s a very good group of girls. We all have the same goal in mind,” Padron said. “And just carrying our faith forward, it’s really exciting to be part of the first (NCAA) win.”

PLNU is the second seed in the West Region while Hilo is seeded third.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.